


To Wonder On

by Callian



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Wonder Woman (Comics), Wonder Woman - All Media Types
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-01-15 19:56:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18505981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Callian/pseuds/Callian
Summary: When Diana comes to Gotham to warn Batman of a dangerous threat that's made its way to the dark city, she finds a young boy stealing the tires off the Batmobile. Naturally, she decides to take him home with her.





	1. To Find Each Other

“Diana, you know he doesn’t like metas in Gotham,” Clark said over the comm.

              “And I have made it perfectly clear I don’t care about Bruce’s fragile ego,” Diana said, “Besides, it’s important that he get this news straight away. He may be used to Gotham crazy, but he’s never dealt with the likes of Dr. Psycho before.”

              “Diana, just liste-“

              “Not now, Clark, I see the Batmobile. I’ll talk to you later,” Diana said as she turned off the comm. Looking down at the scene bellow, it became immediately apparent the car’s namesake own wasn’t currently near it. He was most likely dealing with a situation nearby. No, wait, this was Crime Alley. This was where- ah, so he was visiting that spot. That was fine, Diana could give him the space he needed and wait by the car. As she lowered herself, her attention was caught by something a bit… odd. There was something about the car’s shape that just didn’t look right. Wait, was it- was it _leaning._ It was! The car was leaning to the side. As she got closer, a new odd feature grabbed Diana’s attention. There was a squeaking coming from behind the car.

              Curious, she quietly landed on the side of the car that seemed interfered with. Her eyes shot up in shock at the sight before her. It was a boy, no older than perhaps eleven or twelve (albeit malnourished). There were wires scattered all across the ground, no doubt part of the many features Bruce installed into the batmobile in order to protect it from enterprising crooks, such as this boy. The fact this boy had known how to “uninstall” these features, however crudely, spoke volumes about his ingenuity and capability. But, that wasn’t what caught Diana’s attention though. No, it wasn’t the malnourishment, it wasn’t the intellect needed to pull this off, or even the very fact that it was the freaking _Batmobile_ this kid was stealing from. No, it was the sheer _audacity_ of this. He was a tiny little thing, and yet his first response upon seeing the Batmobile alone, in the middle of the street wasto steal its tires. She couldn’t help it, Diana laughed.

              That startled the boy, who turned to face her. The fear in his eyes took her aback. She wasn’t used to be looked upon that way by children, even the needy ones. It hurt, in its own way. She knew it shouldn’t, but it did. She always prided herself in being a symbol of hope and encouragement. Someone people could look at and see that they were not unwanted, that they were not unloved. The only people who should have that kind of fear in their eyes should be the ones who would dare to threaten another’s security. Not a little boy. There were many that said she was too sensitive to these kinds of things, but she always believed it was better to know how one was perceived and to make sure you were never perceived incorrectly.

              “Forgive me, young warrior,” Diana said, kneeling so she could look at him more evenly, “I did not mean to disturb your work. By all means, continue.” He looked at her suspiciously for a few moments, before his gaze fell upon the tire-wrench in his hands (she was sure there was a proper name for it, though she did not know it), and then returned his gaze back to her.

              There was a pause, as the two shared a look. Eventually, the boy spoke, “Aren’t you going to stop me?”

              Diana raised an eyebrow. “Why would I?”

              “Um, because Batman’s your friend or somethin’?” he said, unsure of himself now.

              “He is my friend,” Diana said, “And as his friend I feel it best to intervene when his horrible sense of fashion deems it necessary to have a bat-themed car. It’ll be good for him.”

              “And _what,_ exactly, will be good for me?” a gruff voice said. Once again, boy jumped back, startled by the sudden appearance of the imposing figure behind him. Diana though, just stood up and looked at Bruce.

              “Ah, Batman, you’re just in time! You see, I was in the middle of my nefarious plans to steal the tires off the Batmobile, when this young lad saw my diabolical acts and moved to stop me. Bravely and valiantly did he face me, before finally he tore the tire-stealing wrench from my clutches and moved to restore the tires to the Batmobile before your return!” she said.

              The two stared at her, equal amounts of disbelief floating in their eyes. Though, to be fair, the boy’s was of the “what is she talking about” variety while Bruce’s was more “you’ve got to be kidding me”. The boy recovered first, oddly enough, patting himself off and standing up to stare Batman in the eye. “It’s true, sir. This defiling witch was seeking to rob you of your means to transport yourself and I, the honorable citizen of Gotham that I am, knew that such a loss would be _catastrophic_ for the city at large.”

              “There’d be lightning storms,” Diana said.

              “And floods,” the boy supplied.

              “The skies would rain fire.”

              “The seas would boil with blood.”

              “Eyeballs would begin to talk.”

              “And Kite-Man would actually be effectual.”

              “It would be Sodom and Gamora all over again, Batman.”

              “The end times, you see. The horrible, horrible end times.”

              “You really should be thanking this boy. He saved the city from my ultimate evil plan.”

              “I was only doing my duty, sir,” the boy said. He paused, thinking for a moment before holding out his hand, “That’ll be one-thousand dollars and seventy-three cents.”

              Batman was very much unimpressed by their clearly superb acting skills. He growled and told the boy to continue reapplying the Batmobile’s tires. “Don’t let her willy tricks bespoil your innocence, Batman!” he warned. For his troubles, Batman gave him a general grunt in his direction.

              “Diana,” he muttered, “What the hell are you doing here?”

              “One of my villains, Dr. Psycho, has moved in on Gotham,” she said, “I have information that he’ll be meeting with some of your rogues in a couple hours. I came to ask for your assistance.”

              “Do you know which rogues?”

              “No, just that there were apparently some big-names. I fear I am not as up-to-date on many of the individual Leaguer’s enemies as I should be,” she replied.

              “Alright. I’ll take care of it. You can go now,” Batman said as he began to turn around.

              “Not without me you aren’t,” Diana said, “Psycho’s _dangerous_ , Batman. He isn’t meeting with those villains as a matter of courtesy, he’s going to take over their minds and use them for his own ends.”

              “I’ve dealt with brainwashing madmen before. I don’t need help on this,” he said.

              “Ah, you mean Tetch, right? The Mad little Hatter with his fancy hat? Psycho’s not like him, Bruce, he’s far worse. His powers can’t be turned off with a boomerang aimed above his head, and the things he’s done Bruce… I’d bet money they’d give the _Joker_ nightmares. There’s only one thing in this world capable of resisting his control,” Diana argued.

              “Oh, and what’s that?”

              Diana patted the hip where her Lasso of Truth sat, grazing her skin and shining brightly in the cold Gotham night. Batman narrowed his eyes before nodding. “Fine, but once we’re done I want you _out_ of my city. It’s no place for metas,” he said.

              “Sure thing,” Diana said, “Shall I take Poison Ivy, Bane, Man-Bat, Mr. Freeze, and Killer Croc with me on the way out? Besides, last I checked it wasn’t _your_ city. It’s its citizens’ city. You’re just the mascot.”

              “Just get in the damn car, Diana!” Batman yelled, slamming the door behind him. Diana couldn’t help but let out a sigh. Ever since Dick chose to move out of the cave and decide Bruce wasn’t worth his time anymore, her friend had gotten more and more hostile. He brooded during League meetings, he yelled at the other members with no concerns as to whether or not they actually deserved to be yelled at, and even _Clark_ couldn’t get him to calm down. She knew she should be more diplomatic about the whole matter, but at the same time she wasn’t going to take Bruce’s woe-is-me brooding bullshit. Someone needed to remind him his problems weren’t everyone else’s. If this kept up though, Diana had the feeling she’d need to personally fly all the way to Titan’s Tower and _drag_ Dick back to the cave. Those two needed to sort their problems out because they were becoming everyone else’s.

The boy’s head shot up and turned to Diana, clearly surprised to the outbursts. “Why do you push him like that?” he asked as he finished up the work on the final tire, “Doesn’t he have, like, some kinda plan to kill you or whatever? Why’d you want to piss a guy like that off?”

              “Because, dear knight,” Diana said, walking up to him, “He’s got a stick up his ass that needs to be forcefully removed.”

              “I wouldn’t want to make him angry, though,” Jason said, “He’s Batman.”

              Diana raised an eyebrow. “You were stealing the tires off of his car,” she reminded him.

              Jason looked between the tire and her for a second before shrugging. “Yeah, but I never intended to get caught,” he replied.

              Diana laughed and ruffled his hair. “I see. Well then, I believe you should head home now, young warrior. Ah, I don’t believe I got your name. Would you mind telling me, before we go?”

              “Oh, uh, I’m Jason. Jason Todd,” he said, “And I- uh- Never mind, it’s nothing.”

              Diana frowned and cocked her head. “You do not have a home to return to, do you?” Jason hesitated for a moment before nodding his head. Diana made an affirmative-sounding noise. “I see. Well then, if it isn’t too much trouble, how about you wait here and when the Bat and I are done, I shall return and we can go get some ice cream.”

              Jason raised an eyebrow. “Are ice cream places even open this late?”

              “It’s Gotham, Jason,” Diana said, laughing, “Of course there is. This city feeds off of the darkness. See you in a bit.”

              Jason nodded. “Yeah, see you in a bit.” With that, Jason backed off from the road and watched as Diana entered the car. A moment later, the engine roared and zoomed off, heading to wherever they needed to go. He stood there for a moment, contemplating what just happened. He _could_ stay like she asked and see if she’d take him to an ice cream place like she said she would, _or_ he could get going because this wasn’t the safest part of town and something might happen. Besides, who knew if she would even return like she said? She was a _superhero_ and it looked like she and Batman were driving off to some big fight with a bunch of supervillains. She’d be too tired to remember him. But… but the prospect of having ice cream with _the_ Wonder Woman was too enticing of an idea for Jason not to see if it would happen. Jason’s life was probably gonna be over in a few years, anyways. Might as well do at least one cool thing in what’ll amount to a brief, pointless existence. So, he found a dark corner of an alley and sat down to wait.

**WW**

              Jason hadn’t realized he’d fallen asleep until he was woken up by a hand shaking his shoulder. “Wha- I’m sorry I’m sorry! I’ll leave!” he quickly yelled out. After a moment of reorienting himself he looked up to find Wonder Woman standing above him, smiling. “Y-You actually came back,” he said.

              She chuckled. “Of course I did. I’d never pass up an opportunity to have ice cream,” she said.

              He stood up and smiled. “Cool. So, you get any suggestions from the Bat?”

              She nodded. “Indeed. There’s a quaint little parlor on Miagani island that he says is open late. Apparently, Robin loved going there with him after patrol,” she said with a slight hint of sadness.

              Jason paled. “Miagani Island? But, that’s like, so far away! Even if it’s open late, the place’ll probably be closed by the time we walk there!”

              “Walk?” Wonder Woman asked, “Who said anything about walking there?” It took a moment for Jason to realize what she was talking about. But once he did, he couldn’t help as his eyes began to bulge and a smile grew on his lips. Wonder Woman smiled and held out her arms. “Hold on tight,” she said. Jason nodded and grabbed her around the neck as she picked him up. Then, with a whoosh of air, they were above even some of the skyscrapers in the city. Jason looked down with wide eyes full of wonder at the sight before him. He’d never realized that Gotham could be so-so _amazing._ He was used to the dirty streets and corners of Crime Alley and the decrepit cesspool of Ma Gunn’s orphanage. This was- this was something else. Diana held them still for a moment, letting him take in the sights.

              “I-I never realized Gotham was so _bright,”_ he said eventually, “I mean, there’s light _everywhere_.”

              Diana looked at the young boy in her arms and smiled. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

              “Yeah, yeah it is,” Jason said, “I never thought I’d consider Gotham beautiful, but that works. Is this how you see the world? All the time?”

              She nodded. “Yes, I do. The view helps me, oddly enough, ground myself. Remind me of what I’m trying to protect when the death and decay get too much for me to bare. It helps me focus on what I’m trying to protect in the first place.” They stayed there for a moment, just basking in the glow of Gotham at night. Eventually, Diana began to fly towards Miagani Island. Slowly, of course. She wanted Jason to take in as much of the cityscape as he could before they eventually had to land.

              It wasn’t a long flight, only about two of three minutes, but Jason loved every second of it. As they slowly fell back to the ground, they found themselves in front of a small shop with the lights on. The sign above it read JOE’S ICE CREAM PARLOR and it was a small corner store, one of the ones with a big window with an Open sign in it. Jason was lowered to the ground and they walked in. It was small inside the shop with only five tables two-seat tables, the counter, and a hallway that probably led to the bathroom. But it was nice and quaint.

              “Welcome to Joe’s what can I get for yo-“ the lady at the counter said, “Oh. Oh my God, you’re-“

              “Why yes, I am indeed a sentient rock,” Wonder Woman said. Both Jason and the girl at the counter turned to face her with incredulous looks on their faces. Diana looked confused at their faces. “What? My mother made me out of clay. I think sentient rock is a good summary of my state of existence.” The other two laughed at the explanation, and the two costumers walked up to the counter.

              “Hmmmm, I shall have the Vanilla-Strawberry swirl,” Wonder Woman said, “What of you, young Jason?”

              Jason scanned the menu above the cashier girl’s head, looking at the options. When he thought about this, he would admit to being the slightest bit excited at the prospect of getting some actual food in his stomach for once in his life. But now that he was here, he couldn’t make up his own damn mind.

              “Well- I’ll have-um-I’ll get- no no -uuuuh,” the girl was looking at him impatiently, but Diana simply smiled. “I’ll have cookie dough! No wait- yeah, cookie dough’ll be find,” he eventually settled on.

              “Good! What size?” the girl asked.

              “Medium,” Diana supplied.

              “Me too.”

              “Great,” she said. A few minutes later, the two of them had their ice cream. Diana paid for it with a twenty she pulled out from a small satchel she kept attacked to her waist and they took their table

              “So, who’s Doctor Psycho?” Jason asked as he tore into his ice cream.

             _“_ Edgar Cizko was a leading psychologist several years ago,” Diana began to explain, “He was well-regarded for his work in the relationship between people and their self-image but, he had a troubled life. Edgar’s a dwarf, you see. All his life his height was a source of bullying and contempt. And it was used as ammunition none moreso than by his own mother and abusive girlfriend. His experience with the two women gave him a bad impression of females as an overall group and he hates them with a passion. One day, back when I was making my mark in Man’s World, the Duke of Deception, one of Ares’ sons, gave Cizko the ability to control others. Since then he’s used it to carry out sick pleasure games and commit horrible crimes, most notably against women. He- well, let’s just say that the Gotham villains we met tonight thought he was too messed up to want around.”

              Jason’s eyes bulged. “Which ones?”

              “Scarecrow, Killer Croc, Bane, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy,… Joker,” Diana listed off. If Jason had been drinking anything, he’d have done a spit take.

              “Joker thought he was unhinged!?!”

              Diana nodded.

              “Shit, that guy must be a piece of work,” Jason said.

              “He is,” Diana said, “Of all my enemies, he is the cruelest. Even with only three of us here, I dare not recount his crimes in such a public space.”

              “So, how’d you beat him?” Jason asked.

              “With my Lasso of Truth. It’s the only thing that can negate his power. He’s currently bound with a piece of it I caught off for this occasion. It’s tied around his ankle where it will be hard for him to undo while cuffed.”

              “Who else do you fight? I know a lot of Batman’s guys, and I know Superman’s got some guys like Lobo and Brainiac as well as the kooky gimmics Flash’s baddies get up to, but I never hear about yours.”

              “Hmmm, let’s see. Well, there is Baroness Paula von Gunther, a leader of a surviving Nazi sect bent on world domination and oppression of the “unclean”. There is the Blue Snowman, a woman named Bryna Brilyant who uses a mech suit to shoot use “blue snow”- she’s my obligatory ice villain. There is also Ares, the God of War, who seeks to cause conflict wherever he goes. Oh, and Dr. Poison, a scientist who uses well, poison. Then there is the Silver Swan, a former ballerina empowered by Ares to have a devastating voice that can reduce entire buildings to rubble. Ah, and let’s not forget Angle Man.”

              “Angle Man?”

              “Yes, he’s a criminal who prides himself in “covering all the angles”. He’s a master planner, able to take into account more variables and possible paths in his plans than I can even imagine. He’s the one person in this world that I know that is more prepared than Batman, and trust me, that’s saying something.”

              “Cool, anyone else?”

              “Well, there is the witch, Circe.”

              “Wait, like from the Odyssey?” Jason said, standing up suddenly. He was looking at her and smiling ear-to-ear, a level of excitement present in his eye that Diana had not expected.

              Diana leaned back slightly in surprise before getting back into the proper sitting position and nodding, “The very same.”

              Jason sat back down in his chair. “Oh, that’s so cool. A living person who was in the Odyssey.”

              Diana laughed. “I take it you’re a fan of the book?”

              “Well, I mean, yeah it’s good. Not the best, though. But how often do you get to know than an actual character in a book you like is real,” Jason admitted.

              “Oh, and what is the best?” Diana asked.

              “Gah, how do I chose only one? Uh, let’s see- I really like Pride and Prejeduice, but wait, no Jane Eyre’s awesome. Wait, no, the best is Hamlet, no The Tempest, no Gods of Pegana, hmmm The Kalevala, maybe?”

              “The Kalevala? I’ve never heard of that one,” Diana admitted.

              “Oh, it’s the Finnish National Epic,” Jason explained, “You see, it was first published in 1835 by a guy named Elias Lönnrot-“

              And so, for the next hour-and-a-half Diana was treated to various descriptions and explanations of the numerous works of classic literature that Jason had read. They ranged from Epic Poetry to Victorian Literature to Lord of the Rings. She learned of Sherlock Holmes and Heathcliff, of the Bronte sisters and Tennyson. She was treated to a monologue about how Beowulf was the single worse piece of literature to be considered a “classic” and found out that The Divine Comedy was good, but overrated. No, it was Paradise Lost that should be considered the de facto epic of Christianity. And in between the books and the novels Jason read in the library during the day, Diana learned that he was apparently an orphan. That his father died in prison after getting arrested and his mother’s life was taken by an overdose. That he’d spent some time in an awful (now defunct) orphanage named Ma Gunn’s and how he ran away from his latest (abusive) foster parents and was living on the streets. He never directly told Diana this, of course, but she could piece it together from the off-handed mentions when a certain event in a novel resonated with a part of his life. All the while though, it was the bright smile on his face as he talked about the books he read when he had the time that caught Diana’s attention. As he spoke, she couldn’t help but fall in love with this sweet little boy who loved to read above all else. Who was clearly so smart and so brave that it hurt Diana to think about just how horrible his life had been. How horrible his life is.

              Diana just wanted to scoop him up in her arms and take her home with him. To give him the love and affection he so clearly needed and deserved. To take him away from this horrible life and give him something better. Wait, why couldn’t she? Bruce had done it with Dick, so why couldn’t she with Jason? She clung to that thought as she allowed the boy to continue. She didn’t want to interrupt him, not when he seemed so happy.

              When they were done and leaving, Jason had walked a few feet ahead of Diana and stretched out his arms. “Well, that was fun. Thanks, Ms. Wonder. You can take me back now.”

              “Actually, I was thinking about that,” Diana said, “Jason, do you- do you have anyone to take care of you at all? I don’t mean social service workers or the foster parents you’ve run away from, but I mean someone that genuinely, truly cares for you. That has your best interests in heart and nothing else. Anyone you can call family?”

              Jason crossed his arms and thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “Nah, not really. I mostly live on the streets these days. It’s okay, though, I can take care of myself,” he replied.

              “I see,” Diana knelt down and looked Jason straight in the eyes, “In that case, I was wondering, would you like to come home with me? No, wait, that sounds creepy. What I mean is, would you like for me to provide you with a home? With food and shelter and a place to live. Free from the violence and the dangers of living on the streets. I could give that to you, you know. You need only say yes.”

              He stares at her for the longest time, taking in what she’s asked. His eyes are wide with shock and his mouth hangs open as far as it will. Eventually, he asks, “Are-are you asking to adopt me?”

              Diana smiles, and nods. “I do believe I am. Is that fine with you?”

              He nods, before he even registers what he’s doing, Jason Todd shakes his head up and down as fast as he can. “Yes yes yes, a thousand times yes,” he says.

              Diana’s smile grows as big as she can make it. “Excellent. Come, take my hand. I’ll call the Invisible Jet and we can fly to the Themysciran Embassy, where I live.”

              He takes her hand, and she takes him home. 


	2. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason is brought to his new home, and is given a tour. Donna is informed of the events that unfolded the previous night.

              Okay, Jason had to admit it, the Invisible Jet was pretty cool. He couldn’t quite make out what its shape was (it was _invisible_ after all), but the inside was really big. At the front sat the cockpit where there were around four seats positioned in the square. Behind them was a fairly spaceous area with various bookshelves, displays, and even a couple beds. He took his seat next to Diana, buckling his seatbelt securely at her insistence. As she prepared for take-off, Jason asked a question.

              “So, what’s with the stuff in back? Kinda a lot for just a plane.”

              “I sometimes have to travel for extended periods of time as part of my United Nations work,” Diana explained, “When that happens, it’s good to have a place to sleep and unwind from all the chaos that’s also portable.”

              The part about her being gone for extended periods of time grabbed Jason’s attention. Did that happen often? Would he just be left alone again, just in a big house? No, no no no, this was _Wonder Woman,_ the Amazonian Princess, a _superhero._ She wouldn’t just adopt some random kid that she had no idea how to deal with. No superhero would.

              The flight was pretty quiet as Jason began to doze off. Diana smiled gently at the boy, moving some hair out of his eyes as he slept on. She had no idea what she was doing, adopting some random kid she just met off the streets, but by Hera she was going to learn. After all, Bruce had done pretty well with Dick (even if they were going through a rough patch right now) so she could ask him. And if that didn’t work there was always Alfred. Oh, and Lois and Clark as well. They’d already been raising their son for a couple years now. They probably had some experience that could help her.

_Then again, I’m pretty sure raising a three-year-old is far different from raising a twelve-year-old._

              Wait, she could ask her mother next time they were on Themyscira. And Peter had those two boys of his, Bobby and Martin, living in the Embassy with them. One of them was six and the other was eight, but she was pretty sure that they would get along well with Jason. Shit, now there was the matter of adoption papers. Jason would probably need to be made a citizen of Themyscira, and that required the Senate’s approval. She had no doubt he would be approved but it would cause a ruckus amongst the Amazons for several reasons. Especially the Bana. The Bana _definitely_ wouldn’t be happy about this.

              But those were all problems for tomorrow. Right now, she had to get this boy to his new home and settled in.

              The flight lasted another 45 minutes or so and ended with her landing the plane on a private strip of the New York airport. Once she was cleared, Diana undid Jason’s seatbelt and scooped the boy up into her arms as he continued to sleep. She stepped down the ramp and headed to where she could see her car waiting in the distance. As she was walking, Diana couldn’t help but notice a large number of strange looks from the airport workers who were busy securing her plane. Most likely curious or concerned over the little boy she was holding in her arms. Diana simply continued walking until she got into the back seat of the car simply and secured Jason in the seat beside her.

              “Long night, Ambassador?” the other occupant of the backseat asked. Diana held out her finger, shushing the woman.

              “Please be quiet, Alana. He’s sleeping and I do not wish to wake him,” she told her secretary, Alana Dominguez, “We’ll talk at the embassy once he’s settled in.”

              Alana nodded and they rode off to the Themysciran Embassy. Upon reaching it, Diana took Jason out of the car and carried him in. Alana was gracious enough to hold open doors for Diana as they made their way through the embassy. Eventually, they settled Jason into one of the smaller guest suites and tucked him in for the night.

              Diana quietly closed the door and smiled. “So,” Alana began, “mind telling me what _that_ was about?”

              After changing into a white t-shirt and sweat pants, Diana regaled the night’s events to Alana in the kitchen over a nice cup of tea. Her secretary nodded and marked down a few notes. “Got it. Well, I was finishing up for the night when we got the call you’d be landing at the airport so I’ll get started on looking up international adoption law with Rachel tomorrow. Right now, I need to get home and get some rest. See you tomorrow, Diana,” Alana said.

              “You as well, Alana,” Diana replied, “And please, you’ve been working so hard lately. Feel free to sleep in tomorrow and come in late. I will not hold it against you.”

Alana smiled and thanked the ambassador before leaving. After finishing her tea, Diana grabbed a small note and wrote down a message informing Ferdinand that they’ll have an extra mouth in the morning.

She should probably call Donna as well. Her sister didn’t live in the Embassy anymore, but she did still have a room and would come to visit when she wasn’t either busy with the Teen Titans or college. It wouldn’t do to have her walk in one day to discover a nephew showed up under her nose. Or worse, over the news. Hell, that might be how she _does_ find out, if the news outlets get word of her carrying a sleeping boy at the airport. She’d deal with that if she had to, though. Right now, all Diana could do is go back upstairs and sleep.

**WW**

              Jason woke up in a large bed. His eyes fluttered between closed and shut for a time before he sat up. Patting the mattress, he noticed it was pretty soft. Not so soft that Jason found it outright unpleasant to sleep in, but it was still softer than he preferred. He liked his mattresses firm and tough. Probably just a habit from all the sleeping on hard surfaces he’d done, but that’s how he liked it nevertheless. Looking down at his body, he noticed he was still wearing the same clothes that he wore yesterday. Huh, weird. Guess they didn’t have anything in his size.

              Scanning the room around him, he noticed it was fairly empty. There was a dresser with a mirror above it on the other side of the room, a small door to his right near the huge window he assumed led to the bathroom, a side table, and another door to his left that probably led to the rest of… whatever this place is.

              After stretching, Jason dragged himself out of bed and walked over to the door on the left side and opened it. He stepped out into a large hallway dotted with rooms all over. Looking down either direction, he saw the hall to his right was a dead-end, while the hall to his left seemed to turn around a corner. Closing the door behind him, Jason carefully walked down the left side of the hall. There was red carpet on the floor, which looked like it would feel _great_ to walk on barefoot. Doors dotted both sides of, interspaced at irregular intervals. This was most likely it was in conjunction with the size of whatever room the respective door led to. Jason moved cautiously, unsure of just _what_ this place was. He did his best to pay attention to all of his surroundings. Didn’t want any surprises to deal with.

              He became so caught up in the hallway around him, Jason failed to notice the guy in front of him after he turned the corner and bumped right into him. “Oof,” Jason muttered, “Hey, watch where you’re- watch where yooou’re- uuuuuh.” He stopped and looked up. This guy was _big-_ like, huge. There was a guy Jason knew, henchman named Philip, who was a big dude. He’d once seen Philip pick up a bowling ball with one and chuck it like a baseball. He was commonly called in when villains needed heavy stuff moved or just get someone flat-out intimidated. Hell, if the rumors were true, he was strong enough to last five minutes in an arm wrestle with _Bane._ Point is, the guy was massive. But the one Jason ran into? Even bigger than Philip. The guy was a tower who nearly reached the ceiling. His shoulders had to be at least three feet apart from each other at the ends. His arms and legs look like they could crush Jason’s skull with relative ease. And to top it all off, he had a bull for a head.

              Jason gaped at the bull-man in front of him and may have let out a particularly high-pitched gasp. The bull-man, for what it was worth, didn’t seem to react to it. He just snorted and said, “Ah, I see you’re the newcomer Lady Diana mentioned. Greetings there, young one. My name is Ferdinand, the Kinotaur.”

              “Oh, h-hi there Ferdinand-“ Jason managed to squeak out. _Damn,_ this guy was huge. No wonder the ceilings in this place were so high.

              “You can ask, you know,” Ferdinand said.

              “About what?”

              “The bull head.”

              “I’m more concerned with those biceps. You could crush me to death with those things!”

              Ferdinand blinked for a few moments, before bursting out in a huge laugh. “That’s a new one! Now then, I take it you’re hungry?”

              Jason’s answer was provided by a particularly loud stomach grumble. Ferdinand… smiled, he guess? It was really more of a mild face contortion, but it resembled a smile so Jason was going with that.. “Well, come with me. I’ll make you some food,” Ferdinand said, turning around.

              “Wait, really? Jason asked, following along.

              “Of course, I’m the embassy’s cook. It’s my job to make meals for the staff and residents here. Come on, this way.” Ferdinand led Jason to the other side of the building, but on the same floor. Opening a door, Jason found himself in a kitchen where a woman with dark skin and a man with basically no hair whatsoever were sitting at a table.

              “I’m telling you, Peter, they’re going to lose,” the woman said.

              “In your dreams, Rachel,” the man said, scrolling down on his phone, “You’re just scared cause the Spartans now have Blendale on their team.”

              “Hmf, the Sharks’ll do just fine without him,” the woman said vindictively, “Blendale was holding the team back.”

              “Really? Because, if I remember right, when he was still with the Sharks you specifically said he, quote, ‘Was the best da-‘”

              “Ahem!” Ferdinand said, “Mr. Garibaldi, if you would be so kind as to refrain from such language in front of children, that would be appreciated.” The Kinotaur walked towards the kitchen area and began to take out ingredients.

              “Wha- who, me?” Jason said, “I’ve grown up on the Gotham _streets._ You really think that I’ve never heard the word ‘damn’ before? Please, I say it all the time. See? Damn damn damnity damn damn. Just a word.”

              The adults in the kitchen were staring at him with wide eyes. The lady with the newspaper, Rachel, if her nametag was anything to go by, had lowered her paper so Jason could see her face now. She shared a look with Garibaldi and then with Ferdinand. Then the three of them turned their eyes back towards Jason. “So, what’s your name, young man?” Rachel asked.

              “Jason Todd,” he said, grabbing a seat, “Diana said she was going to adopt me.”

              They nodded slowly, attempting to process the information just given to them. Thankfully, that was the moment Diana chose to walk in. She was dressed in a baggy t-shirt and jeans with similar patterns as her armor. It was pretty odd for Jason, seeing Wonder Woman in casual wear, but despite the difference in clothing, she still managed to maintain the same dignified presence she always held. Just, more approachable than usual. “Good morning, everyone,” she said, “Alana’s going to be coming in a bit late today. She had a long night and I told her she could sleep in. By the way, Rachel, I’m going to need to talk to you later today about some legal matters.” She strolled over to the kitchen with far too much grace than should be legally acceptable so soon after waking up and began to prepare some coffee.

              “Would those ‘legal matters’ happen to include a fowl-mouthed little boy named Jason Todd?” Rachel asked. Diana froze, and turned towards the table where she saw Jason sitting down with the other two. He waved at her.

              “Ah, good, you’ve met! So, what do you two think?” Diana asked.

              “He’s said less than ten sentences and I already hate his guts,” Rachel said.

              “Keep him away from my sons,” Garibaldi ordered.

              Diana clapped her hands together and smiled. “Excellent, I’m glad you like him!”

              The two groaned and went back to their respective distractions. As Ferdinand finished his cooking, they were joined by two other boys, Bobby and Martin. They were apparently Mr. Garibaldi’s sons, from what he heard. The six of them sat there for a while, the adults discussing various things Jason could only vaguely follow and the boys went about what appeared to be their normal morning routine of messing with action figures. Occasionally Ferdinand would pipe in with his own thoughts on a subject matter or with an update on breakfast preparation. Once he finished, Ferdinand set out a nice, big plate of pancakes. As everyone else began to tear into it, Jason just stared at the pile in awe. That was probably when it hit him. This was _real._ Jason was going to be _adopted by Wonder Woman._ What the actual fuck? Just yesterday morning he was starving in Crime Alley, Gotham, trying to figure out how to get something to eat. Now, he was in New York City at the Themysciran Embassy getting served pancakes by a _Minotaur._ Ok, he was a Kinotaur, technically speaking, but same difference. Point was, Jason had begun to process the complete 180 his life had taken, and he was freaking out.

              “Jason?” Diana asked from beside him, “Is everything alright?”

              “This is real,” Jason said, “This is 100%, genuinely real. I-I- how the-“

              Diana smiled down at him and wrapped her arm around him. “Yes, Jason, this is real. It’s going to be fine. I’ll take care of you,” she said. And the thing is, if anyone else had said that to him he’d take it with a grain of salt. If it had been Batman who’d seen him taking the wheels off his car and took him in, he’d probably need time to truly believe him. If Superman had decided to descend from the clouds on high and adopt him, he wouldn’t trust those words. Hell, if anyone else in the whole wide world, no matter how universally trusted they were, told Jason that this was a genuine thing. That he was actually being adopted and was _wanted,_ he wouldn’t have believed them. Yet, sitting here, he heard a kind of honesty in Diana’s words that he heard nowhere else. He wanted to believe her, no, he _did_ believe her. There was no other way her words could have possibly been interpreted. She was telling the truth.

              He wrapped his arms around her and held on tight. He didn’t cry, he felt that would just ruin the moment. But he did tell her, “Thank you,” over and over again as many times as he could think. Because, for the first time since he was nine, he actually felt like things would get better. He had _hope._ And he had no idea what to do with it.

**WW**

              Jason was waiting outside for her. Diana had promised to give him the full tour of the building today, and she had every intention of doing that. She just had a call to make.

              The ringing on the other end stopped, as a click signaled the phone being picked up on the other side. “Hey, you’ve just called the Teen Titans. What can we do for you, man?” the voice on the other side said. Judging by the fairly laid back attitude the recipient had, Diana guessed he was Beast Boy.

              “Hello, Gar, right? This is Diana, Donna’s sister. Is she available?” she asked.

              There was the sound of clattering on the other side followed by a reply, “Whoa, yeah, sure. Just-just gimme a moment. Hey, Donna, it’s your sis!”

              A few moments passed as Diana waited for the phone to be passed on. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Donna’s voice come alive on the other side and say, “Hey, Diana. What’s up?”

              “I’m calling to inform you of a recent… change in my life that I thought you should be made aware of.”

              “Um, ooookay. What is it?”

              Diana coughed. “Well, you see yesterday I learned that Doctor Psycho had been found in Gotham and was intending to have a meeting with several of the other rogues there. I knew this was a recipe for disaster, so I flew to Gotham in order to inform Bruce and neutralize the threat before it got out of hand.”

              “Oh, I bet he wasn’t happy about that.”

              “He wasn’t. Anyways, once I spotted his car, I landed only to find that it was missing a tire. Further inspection found that there was a young man named Jason Todd stealing the tires off the Batmobile. After he reattached them, I promised to return and take him out for some late-night ice cream. While we were eating- oh Gods, Donna, you should have heard him. He talked my ear off for an hour about classical works of literature. Everything from The Odyssey to Shakespeare to Pride and Prejeduice. And the sass on that boy too. I mean, he talked back to _Batman_ of all people. Big, scary, “I will devour your flesh” Batman. No no, he was stealing his _car tires._ Oh, the spunk on that boy!”

              “Oh no, I think I know where this is going.”

              “Right, needless to say I have chosen to adopt Jason and make him my son. Congratulations, you’re now an aunt! Horraaaaaaaay!”

              Donna let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Have you told Mom yet?” she asked.

              “No, not yet. I intend to write her a letter later today after I get Jason settled in,” Diana said.

              “Right. Well, considering the fact you’ve already kidnapped the kid, I suppose I have little say in this decision. And even if I did, it’s yours to make at the end of the day. I guess- *sigh* Y’know, I’m gonna cancel my date with Terry tonight. I’ll be there in a few hours to meet this “Jason”. That good with you?”

              “You don’t have to do that, Donna.”

              “Nah, it’s good. Terry’ll understand. See you in a few, Di.”

              “I will see you soon, sister dear.” With that, the two of them hung their phones up. Opening the door, Diana smiled at Jason, who was sitting up against the wall. “Are you ready for your tour, Jason?”

              He looked up and nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

              Diana nodded. “Good, come this way.”

              The two began to walk.

              “The embassy is divided into two main floors,” Diana explained, “The first floor is the main embassy area where all official business is conducted. This is where everyone holds their offices and workplaces. The only office not on this floor is mine, which is up on the second floor just past the kitchen where we ate. There’s a small ballroom, I guess you could call it, where events involving a large number of guests are held. We also have two conference rooms. The smaller one is used in meetings between members of the staff, and the larger one is used to meet with other members of various outside organizations we find ourselves working with. On that side we also have a customs office in case any Themyscirans chose to come and visit the US and need assistance. Though we’ve yet to actually have need of it. Following me so far?”

              “Yeah, pretty much,” Jason said.

              “I know it’s not something you find particularly exciting, but this is information you will need to know since you’ll be living here. Now, during work hours I don’t want you disturbing the other staff. Once we get you enrolled into _some_ kind of schooling that shouldn’t be a problem. But until we do, you need to let everyone do their work.”

              “Got it. So, who all works here?”

              “Hm, well, Ferdinand does the cooking, as you’ve probably guessed. You’ve already met two of my main aids: Peter Garibaldi and Rachel Keast. Peter and his sons live here full-time and Rachel has been staying here due to a subway worker’s strike going on that would impede her commute. Peter’s in charge of PR, making sure my message and ideals are properly taught. He’s also in charge of managing our connections and relationships with various other charities. Rachel’s in charge of all the legal matters. She’ll probably have to talk to you a good bit about the adoption once that hits the ground. There’s also Alana Dominguez, my secretary. She lives in her own apartment instead of here. Since I’m usually busy with my charity work and superheroing, she’s in charge of the day-to-day administration of the Embassy.”

              “Oh, are you gone a lot?”

              “Quite often, yes,” Diana said, taking a look at Jason. His eyes had fallen to the ground slightly and he was clearly worried. She smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I’ll find ways to cut down on the workload. I’m not just going to abandon you in the Embassy while I run off adventuring. If nothing else, I’ll find a way to take you with me.” He seemed… satisfied with that answer for the moment. But Diana couldn’t help but punch herself in her mind. She really should have thought this through more. Of course Jason would have abandonment issues. He was basically left alone by a dead father and mother, and everyone he’d had since then treated him like dirt. Now here he was, with the possibility of actually getting some semblance of goodness back and he learns the woman giving it to him runs around doing world-saving stuff all the time. Maybe she _should_ give Clark a call. If anyone would know how to balance superheroing, a job, and family time, it would be him.

              “Well,” she said, “Let’s check out the second floor.” Leading him up the stairs, she showed Jason the various rooms and facilities in the residential part of the Embassy. Where the Garibaldis’ and Ferdinand’s rooms are, the guest quarters that Rachel was staying in, and of course, his own room.

              “I was thinking that the room you woke up in today could be converted to your personal quarters,” Diana said, “If you’d like, we could change the mattress if you didn’t find it comfortable to wake up on. It was just all we had on short notice. Some books and a bookshelf as well would probably be good. What do you think, Jason?”

              “Well, that sounds pretty cool, actually. What kind of books?” he asked.

              “Whatever you like to read,” Diana said.

              He smiled, and Diana’s heart grew.

              “Well, there’s one last room I’d like to show you,” she told Jason as they headed down the right-side hallway.

              “Hm?” Jason questioned. Diana didn’t answer until they came upon a door.

              “This is my office,” she explained, “It’s where I do my daily work when I’m not running off somewhere.” She opened the door. “But, it also doubles as a library.” Jason’s eyes widened as he looked into the room. It was massive, probably one of the biggest rooms in the entire embassy. And on every wall was a bookshelf, each filled to the brim with tomes and books of all sizes and shapes. The only open spots were the ones with windows or the door. By the opposite wall was a large desk covered with neatly organized papers and a computer. To the side were a group of comfy looking chairs facing each other and a side table between them. Walking in, Jason couldn’t help but admire the décor.

              “Most of these books aren’t really what it sounds like you’re interested in, but that shelf over there has works of literature important to various cultures around the world. I’ve learned that nothing gets you on friendlier terms with someone than referencing a story they like,” Diana said, “My sister Donna will be here later today. She said she wants to meet you, so you’ll meet her. I’m sure you’ll love her, Jason, she really is quite nice. Now, I need to get some work done, not the least of which is start filling out some forms Rachel sent me for your adoption, and I’ll have to write my mother about all of this. How about you grab a book and take a seat? You can read while I work and this evening we can go shopping for clothes and other things you’ll need alongside Donna. Does that sound good to you?”

              Jason nodded absentmindedly at Diana’s suggestion, his attention still fixated on the books surrounding him. “Yeah, that sounds cool,” he said.

              She smiled and ruffled his hair. “Then how about you pick out a book.” He ran to the bookcase and took out a book before running over to the chairs and taking a seat. He flipped through it, taking a look at different pages before settling on one about two-thirds in.

              “You’re starting more than half-way through?” Diana asked as she took a seat.

              “I’ve already been reading it at the library on Winchester Street,” Jason said, “This is just where I left off.”

              “Ah, I see,” Diana said before turning her computer on.

              “So, how’re you gonna write your mom?” Jason asked, flipping a page.

              “I’m going to email her,” Diana said as she typed in her username and password.

              Jason paused for a moment before turning towards Diana. “The Amazons have email?”

              “Jason, the Amazons _invented_ email,” Diana said.

              “Huh. Wait, question, do you guys own Amazon?”

              “No, we do not. Though after our existence was discovered, we agreed to allow them to continue using the name for a small royalty.”

              “Well, small for you guys, at least,” Jason answered.

              “Yes, small for us,” Diana said.

              So they sat there, a boy and his book and a woman and her work. Content in the silence as the day passed them by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason this one came out so quickly is because most of it was already written. The previous chapter was already completed and I just needed to wait for my Ao3 invitation to be verified. I originally intended to have Donna and Jason's meeting be this chapter, but if got a bit too long so I'm moving it to next chapter.
> 
> So, in this chapter we're introduced to the members of the Themysciran Embassy. I knew that for this series, it would be best to have a "home base" of sorts in similar fashion to Wayne Manor in the Batman fanfics. The staff I took these guys straight outta Greg Rucka's original run on Wonder Woman. I've found that with comicbook fanfictions, it's best to chose a certain baseline of assumptions about the world and characters so you can build off of them. This seems to be easiest with Batman as the origin stories of the Robins and their names once they "graduate" are so intrinsically linked to each other in a cascade effect, it's easy to pull that off with some added bits and pieces for narrative clarity. With Wonder Woman, not so much. Sure, people know she exists and what her basic premise is, but not much in the way of important events in her life. As such, I've opted to use the two Rucka runs as a way of grounding myself in Diana's world. I'll sprinkle in stuff from other runs as the story goes on, but Rucka's work is the main stuff. Don't worry, I'll explain stuff as we go along that probably isn't common superhero knowledge as the story goes on. That's part of the benefit of having Jason to the co-protaganist of this story, he's pretty unfamiliar with Diana's side of things, so he'll need to be informed of all this stuff.
> 
> Also, as the story goes on I hope to bring in more members of the Wonder Family. They're a pretty cool group of characters and it makes me kinda sad that they don't get much attention in the Wonder Woman fanfiction. Everything's just a story about Diana and Steve. Now listen, I love Wondertrev, they're my superhero OTP. But there's so much more to Diana than JUST her relationship with Steve, as good as it is. So, henceforth- this fic.
> 
> And finally, a question: Are there any villains, aspects, or events in Diana's world that you'd like to see explored in this fic? I'd like to have some episodic stories inbetween the main story beats and I'd like to hear your guys' thoughts on it.
> 
> Callian31, signing out.


	3. Meet the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Jason meets two important women.

              The morning moved on from noon into afternoon, and Jason remained in that same chair, reading his book. Ferdinand had brought them lunch an hour or so earlier. It was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a side of freshly-cooked chips. Unsurprisingly, it was good. Like, really good. Probably one of the best meals Jason had eaten in his life. He wasn’t exactly sure _where_ Diana had found the Kinotaur cook, but he was glad she did. If this was what all his meals would be like, Jason certainly couldn’t complain.

              The overwhelming emotions of the morning aside, so far the day had been fairly quiet. He liked that. One usually didn’t _get_ “quiet days” in Crime Alley. Back there your days would be spent rummaging around, trying to find stuff to steal and sell to dealers so you could buy a decent meal at one of the three grocery stores in the neighborhood. All the while dodging and avoiding the gangs who just _loved_ to scoop up kids like Jason and make them do their dirty work. He’d found a way around it by spending most of his time in the library when he didn’t need to work. See, the thing about Crime Alley is that there are very few “neutral” grounds in the whole neighborhood. Homes, public service buildings, offices, it was all fair game for someone to just walk in there and shoot you in the head. But there was a collection of five spots the locals silently agreed to leave out of it: the aforementioned three grocery stores (because _food),_ Leslie Thompkins’s Clinic (because _free doctor),_ and the Library. Jason wasn’t one-hundred percent sure why the library was considered off-limits, though he felt it had something to do with the rumors that the main librarian there, Andrea Beauregard, was an ex-assassin or something. Whatever, it was Gotham. They literally had serial killing clowns, plant women, _two_ giant bats, a penguin themed mobster, a little kid running around in pixie boots, and whatever the Riddler was. An ex-assassin librarian is, frankly speaking, not the weirdest thing to come out of the city.

              The point was, due to the relative safety of the library, he found himself spending a lot of time there when it was open, and he didn’t have anything he needed to steal. As such, there was plenty of time for him to just sit back and read a book. He’d started with Wüthering Heights one day and made his way through the rest of the classics section. The books were the only shelter he had when he had nothing else to latch on to for safety. Their distant problems, no matter how bad, were always just that- distant. Something he could use to leave the twisted streets of Crime Alley and forget. Something he could use to feel _safe,_ if only for a brief span of time. But maybe he didn’t need that now. For all intents and purposes, Jason was safe here. Away from Crime Alley and in the arms of Wonder Woman. _God,_ he still couldn’t get over that. He had a mom again and it was motherfucking Wonder Woman. Jason wasn’t sure what the odds were of that happening were, but they were probably pretty low.

              He flipped through another page in his book, engrossed in the tale being told. It was at around 2:30 when the door to Diana’s office opened and an older girl stepped through. She was wearing an orange shirt and peach-colored pants. A horrid color combination, if Jason ever saw one. She was tall, but not taller than Diana. Only reaching up to just a bit above Diana’s chin. Her hair was black, and she looked at Diana with a certain amount of familiarity that meant only one thing.

              “Donna! You’re here!” Diana cried, sitting up from her chair. She rushed over to her sister and gave her a big hug. Jason just simply lowered his book to his chest and looked on. He felt… out of place here. He could _feel_ the relief and happiness at seeing each other flood off the two women. He was just the third wheel. A placeholder audience for their displays of affection.

              “Alright, where is he?” Donna asked, “Where’s the kid?”

              “Right here,” Diana said, “Donna, I’d like you to meet your soon-to-be-nephew, Jason Todd. Jason, this is your future aunt, Donna Troy.”

              Donna smiled and walked over to where he was sitting and held out her hand. “Hey there, Jason. It’s nice to meet you,” she said.

              He eyed her hand warily for a few moments. Hhis hands were rested on the book on his chest and he didn’t move them. Donna looked back at Diana, confused. Unsure as her sister was, Diana just shrugged and gave a crooked smile.

              “You’re with the Teen Titans, right?” he asked her.

              Donna nodded. “Oh, why yes I am,” she said.

              “Then you know Robin?”

              Realization dawned on Donna’s face as she regained her composure. “He goes by Nightwing now, but yes, I do,” she replied. Jason blinked in surprise. Glancing over at Diana, he realized that she, too, was surprised by this news. Robin had changed his name? But… why? He was… he was _Robin._ Wow, there wasn’t a Robin anymore. Shaking the thoughts from his mind, he continued.

              “In that case, can you tell him something for me?” he asked.

              “Sure, what is it?”

              “His Robin costume was dumb,” he said.

              The two sisters burst out laughing at the remark and Donna took a seat in the chair across from Jason.

              “That’s a good one, Jayjay,” Donna said, “I’ll tell him that myself when I get back. Though, I think at this point he’ll take it as a compliment.”

              “Why?” he asked.

              “Well, let’s just say he’s come to see the Robin mantle as a crutch that held him back,” she said, “Nowadays he’s trying to separate himself as far away from Bruce as possible.”

              Diana made a noise and frantically moved her hands back and forth at Donna, signaling something.

              “Diana, wha- oh. Oh noooooooo,” Donna said, “Shit.”

              Jason blinked, looking back and forth between them. “What? What’d she do?”

              “Don’t worry about it, Jason,” Diana said.

              He stared at the two, wondering if they really thought he was just going to drop that. What could they be trying to- oh. Right. “Wait, who’s Bruce?” he asked.

              Diana let out a sigh. “Bruce Wayne. He’s Batman,” she supplied.

              “Wait, _Bruce Wayne is Batman!?!”_ Jason asked, “Oh my God that explains so much.”

              “Like what?” Donna asked.

              “Like the fact Batman gets all these cool toys from seemingly nowhere,” Jason said, “And how Bruce Wayne didn’t go crazy despite having a tragic backstory and living in Gotham. It all makes sense, he just _pretended_ to not go crazy!”

              “What makes you think he’s crazy?” Diana asked.

              “He literally runs out in the middle of the night and punches bad guys in the face while dressed as a bat!” Jason said, “That’s what!”

              “Ah, so am I crazy, then?”

              “Whu- No, of course not, Diana! You’re _Wonder Woman.”_

 “Jason, despite not being bullet proof, I fly into war zones in my invisible jet wearing nothing but some boots, a couple bracelets, and a glorified one-piece bathing suit. How am I _not_ crazy?” She crossed her arms and looked at him disapprovingly.

Jason was stopped by the statement and stared at her with wide eyes. Now that she said it out loud, it _was_ kinda ridiculous. But she was _Wonder Woman._ When she did it, it was cool. When Batman did it, it was sad.

              “Because you’re Wonder Woman!” Jason answered confidently.

              “Wrong answer,” Diana replied, “The correct answer is that I am indeed crazy and imitating my fashion choices is an absolutely horrible idea. Just look at Donna. Her outfit is nice, sleek, and practical. Absolutely nothing like my bustier.”

              “Okay, since it’s been brought up,” Donna interrupted, “Why _do_ you wear that, Diana? I have been wondering since I was a little girl.”

              Diana smirked. “Because it doesn’t matter what I wear. They’ll never be able to hit me anyways.”

              Jason and Donna shared a look, contemplating the statement between themselves. “Okay,” Jason said, “now that we know her reason, what was Robin’s excuse?”

              Donna shrugged. “Don’t ask me, kid. I’ve been asking him about that since day one and I never got an answer.” Jason mumbled to himself at that reply.

              “So, Jason, tell me about yourself,” Donna asked.

              “What about me?” Jason mumbled out, not liking the direction this conversation was going.

              “Oh, you know, likes and dislikes, hobbies, favorite superhero. That kinda stuff,” Donna said.

              “Books,” Jason said, “I like books.”

              Donna nodded and looked over to Diana, who was biting her lip. They were worried about something, Jason could tell. What was it though? Was it something he did, something he said?

              “Okay, then,” Donna said, “I take it you two’ve already had lunch?”

              They both nodded in the affirmative.

              “Alright, then I’ll stop by the kitchen and grab a sandwich or something. After that, we can head out and do some shopping for this poor boy,” Donna said.

              Afterwards, when Diana was done working and Donna had finished her lunch, they went out shopping. Neither Diana nor Donna wore their superhero outfits, instead opting for more casual clothing. Nothing major, just some sweaters and jeans. For good measure, Diana put on some glasses and tied up her hair in a pony tail to disguise herself.

              The clothing store was pretty big. Of course, Jason knew clothing stores were big, he’d seen them around Gotham. But seeing a store from the outside was one thing, seeing it from the inside was a whole other ballgame. They looked through at least fifty different kinds of all the boy’s clothes available. T-Shirts and jeans, polos and khakis, and even some dress clothes as well. If he were to be perfectly honest, the whole thing made Jason really uneasy. All these clothes with all these big, heft price tags on them? That was _a lot_ of money being spent, the kind of money Jason felt should be going somewhere else. Like a charity or some starving African village or something. Not… to him. There was also the fact he wasn’t used to having more than two outfits at a time. That was enough to get by on, why did he need _twenty?_ Thankfully, Diana and Donna seemed to catch on, and in the end they left only with enough clothes to last him a week or so before they’d need to be cleaned. He still felt it was too much, but he could handle this a lot more. They didn’t get any of the fancy stuff, either, but Jason felt they’d come back to it later considering he’d probably need to go with Diana to a bunch of formal stuff.

              Three hours after they first entered the clothing store, they stepped out. Figuring it was kinda late, the three of them opted to go eat out at a hole-in-the-wall café Diana and Donna wanted to show him. Apparently, back when Donna was Diana’s full-time partner, they used to eat there at least once a week and they always made it a habit to go whenever they had the chance. Now, they wanted to let Jason in on the custom. It was a nice place, all things considered. Despite the fact it was a “hole-in-the-wall”, it was still a larger place than Joe’s Ice Cream was. The food was good, too. No, it was _better_ than good, the sandwich Jason’d had was literally the best thing he’d ever eaten (sorry, Ferdinand). In his mind, definitely worth that price tag on the menu.

              Once the meal was done, and they were heading back to the car, Diana smiled. “Well, that seems to be about everything we need right now. Just one more stop before we get home,” she said.

              Jason groaned and looked up at her. _“What?_ What do we even need, Diana? We already got me clothes! _”_ he whined. Dammit, he was _tired._ Shopping took a lot out of him, okay? Even Donna seemed to be slightly groaning at the prospect.  

              Diana just looked into Jason’s eyes and smiled. “Why, books, of course.”

              Suddenly, Jason wasn’t so tired anymore.

              For him, the Farmes & Hobble’s store was love at first sight. According to Diana, it was the biggest bookstore in the entire nation, and Jason could believe it. The place was _massive_ , with about three floors worth of books, it was basically heaven on earth for him. He found himself zipping from shelf-to-shelf faster than he’d ever gone before in his life. Upon later reflection, he was pretty sure the only reason Diana had even been able to keep up with him was because of her powers (Donna had gone to sit down and text her boyfriend, Terry). But in that moment, he was running between shelves faster than the Flash, taking one out and flipping through it before putting it back and taking out another. Diana smiled and laughed and talked to him about what he’d found the entire time. When he found a book he liked, he handed it to Diana and kept going. It was about an hour-and-a-half in, when he was about to hand her a copy of Moby Dick, that he noticed the large pile that had built up in her hand.

              “Oh, uh,” Jason said, holding the book close, “I think I’m done for today.”

              Diana frowned and cocked her head. “Are you sure?” she asked, “Jason, the pile is no problem. I do have super strength, and if need be we can ask Donna to carry some.”

              “Yeah, but…” he muttered, looking off to the side. Diana let out a sigh and smiled.

              “Very well. Let us go to retrieve Donna and return to the car. It’s getting late anyways.” So, they got Donna, who was in the middle of a comic she’d picked up after finishing her talk with Terry, and they headed out. Once the bags were placed in the trunk with the clothes, the three of them piled into the car. Diana and Donna up front with Donna at the wheel, and Jason in the back with his seatbelt on. Donna had just put the key into the ignition when the car suddenly filled with the sound of wordless singing. The two sisters shared yet another one of those knowing looks with each other, before Diana began quickly digging into her pocket and taking her phone out.

              Bringing it up to her right ear, Diana hit the answer button. “Hello, Mother. I assume this is about the email I sent earlier?” Mother? Oh, oh shit. That was Queen Hippolyta on the other side of the phone. _Mother eff-ing Queen Hippolyta._ Jason froze in fear. Oh, god, what if she didn’t approve of him? What if she didn’t allow Diana to adopt him cause he was a boy? What if this whole entire thing went up in flames because some random Queen lady said no? He’s be back out in the streets and fending for himself. Nowhere to go except down, the constant memory of what he could’ve had an ever fading mural in the back of his mind. Oh God, oh no oh no-

He hadn’t realized how hard he’d been breathing until Donna had put an arm on his shoulder.

              “It’s fine, Jason. Breathe,” she said. Swallowing, Jason attempted to slow his breath, eyes keenly fixed on Diana talking on the phone.

              “Right. Yes, I shall,” Diana said, “I love you too, Mother.” She hung up and let out the breath she’d been holding in.

              “I had intended to help Jason settle in a bit more tomorrow,” Diana said, “But it appears my mother has other plans. She wishes to meet you, Jason. We shall be going to Themyscira tomorrow.”

              And that was that.

**WW**

              The flight was mostly taken in silence. With Jason curled up in his seat, Donna looking out the window, and Diana hyperfocusing on the actual flying of the plane. It was somber, nervous even. None of them knew what would happen, he could tell. And Jason was afraid.

              “What will you do if she says you can’t keep me?” Jason eventually asked, eyes downcast.

              Diana turned to him in shock. “Jason, what on Earth would even make you think she’d say something like that?” she asked in shock. Hearing the outburst, Donna diverted her attention from the window to their conversation.

              “’Cause I’m a boy,” Jason said, “Isn’t that a thing with the Amazons? They don’t like boys?”

              “Jason, wha- no, of course not!” Diana said, “The Amazons don’t just hate every man on the basis of them being men. They are wary of them, yes, but that is due to Hercules’s… imprisonment of them.”

              “Yeah, but _what if?_ What if they don’t think I’m good enough to be an Amazon? What if they think I can’t punch a centaur hard enough or swing a sword the right way?” he asked, “ _What if your mother says you can’t adopt me?”_

              “Then I will adopt you,” Diana said, “There is no force on Olympus or Earth capable of rending you away from me, Jason. Not even the Amazons.”

              “You’d disobey your mom, for me?” Jason asked, shocked.

              Donna scoffed. “Diana, listen to Hippolyta? What kinda crazy alien Earth is _that?”_ she asked.

              Diana turned back in her seat to glare at Donna. “I’m not that bad,” she argued.

              “Oh please, I’m pretty sure one of the many gifts the Gods gave you when you were born was a perpetual state of teenaged rebellion,” Donna said, “Hippolyta tells you not to train to become a warrior, you train to become a warrior. Hippolyta tells you to not think about Mans’ World, you go and write philosophy papers on Mans’ World. Hippolyta tells you that, no matter what, you are to stay on Themyscira, you go and leave Themyscira. Your entire life is defined by doing the exact opposite of what Mom tells you to do. That’s why I’m the favorite.”

              “You are not the favorite,” Diana said.

              “Am too.”

              “Are not.”

              “Am too.”

              “Are not.”

              “Am to-” Jason started to laugh. He couldn’t help it. Here were Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, arguing like three-year-olds over who was Mom’s favorite child. It was ridiculous. Donna and Diana smiled at the laughing boy and themselves felt reassured. They had no doubt in their minds that Hippolyta and the others would come to accept Jason, but whether or not it would be from the very beginning or later down the road, they had no idea and that’s what worried them.

              “We’re here,” Donna said.

              Looking up, Jason’s eyes grew wide at the sight unveiling before him. The island was green. As in, almost the whole thing was covered in grassy fields and verdant forests. On the upper part of the island that sat a collection of mountains and farther still, a more barren land with several small buildings dotting its landscape. All across the island lakes dotted the landscape, the largest of which contained a grand city that shined in the daylight. Themyscira.

              The Invisible Jet landed on a small runway just outside the city limits. Once final checks were completed, the three of them took off their seatbelts and exited the plane. Diana held Jason close and smiled at him.

              “I know I said you’d be fine, but they may be a bit wary around you. Please stay close to me just in case,” Diana said. Jason nodded, and they walked into the city.

              Jason would be lying if he said that the city of Themyscira wasn’t the most beautiful place he’d ever seen. Everything he saw was a work of art. Each building was clearly skillfully crafted, the stones in the street were laid out to create a great mural, no doubt immortalizing the history of the Amazons. It seemed as if every corner contained a statue showing off some famous Amazon: Antiope, Penthesilea, Myrina, Aegea, and several more. Donna named each and every one they passed as they made their way to what Jason assumed would be the palace. The two sisters would greet and exchange pleasantries with practically any Amazon that came within ten feet of them, apparently knowing everyone’s names. Jason kept close to them and did his best to not draw attention to himself. He’s not entirely sure he succeeded though, as several Amazons looked at him with questioning and suspicious looks on their faces. Though they said nothing and continued on their way.

              Eventually, they reached the palace. It was, naturally, a large building with a massive row of steps climbing their way up to the top, where the actual entrance was obscured by large, stone pillars. Diana looked down at Jason and smiled, holding out her hand. Cautiously, Jason took it, and they walked their way up the stairs. At the top they were met by an Amazons that seemed to hold positions of authority. She was a dark-skinned woman who was donned in brilliant gold-plated armor and held herself with an air of authority that screamed “I will kick your ass if you look at me wrong”. The group stopped in front of her.

              “General Phillipus,” Diana said, “I believe my mother wishes to speak with me?”

              Phillipus scanned the three of them, her eyes passing over Jason the same way they did over Donna and Diana. The general gave a small smile and nodded. “Yes, she is waiting for you. This way, Lady Diana, Lady Donna, Lady Jason.

              He stopped and before he could stop himself blurted out, “Lady!?! Who’re you calling a lady?”

              Everyone, not just their small group but also practically every single Amazon zipping around and about outside the palace, stopped to stare at him.

              “Forgive me,” Phillipus said, “I am not as familiar with English as our princesses. Is lady the incorrect term?”

              “Oh- uh, yeah,” Jason said, suddenly remembering this woman could probably squeeze the life out of him in two seconds flat, “I-it’s the female usage of the word. ‘Lord’ is the male form.”

              Phillipus nodded in understanding. “Thank you. As you might imagine, we rarely have need of the word around here. I will do my best to remember to use it. Now, shall we be on your way?” And they followed, weaving themselves through the intricate hallways and confusing turns of the palace, guided by Phillipus. Eventually, they came upon a door in an off-to-the-side portion of the palace. “Queen Hippolyta is through this door,” Phillipus instructed them, “You may enter at your leisure.”

              Diana touched her two wrists together in an X shape and bowed. “Thank you, General, you are dismissed,” she said. The general responded with the same gesture and began to head back the way they came. Turning towards the door, Diana breathed in and out very slowly before walking towards the door and opening it.

The door opened up to a fairly large, open room which only had walls on the side with the door. It had what appeared to be a group of what appeared to be couches collected together at the center. As it expanded out,  the room led out to a balcony overlooking another wing of the palace and the lake that surrounded the city. A figure stood on the balcony, overlooking the sight before them with vague interest. No doubt hearing them entered, she turned around.

              The moment he saw her, Jason knew this was a Queen. She had long, blonde hair and a flowing white robe, neatly folded and bound. On the outside she just seemed to wear what appeared to be casual Themysciran clothes. Only two things signaled her status as anything other than a regular woman. The first was the small crown that adorned her hair. The other was the sheer presence she exuded. When one looked at her there was no doubt who was in the position of power here, who was the one you did not want to make angry.

              She and Diana approached each other stiffly, firmly maintain eye-contact as they closed the distance between them, meeting at about halfway across the room. Jason fell slightly behind Diana to give her room, and give himself distance from Hippolyta. For a moment, Jason was taken back to memories of his old mom, back when she still spent most of her time level headed and before the drugs started to take her away. Back when they found safety in each others’ arms as dad walked around going on about how his next scheme was almost certainly going to get them out of Crime Alley. When she’d read to him from their worn-out copy of The Wizard of Oz and tell him stories to distract him from the gunfire outside. Sadly, his memories were interrupted when Hippolyta spoke to Diana at last.

              “Princess.”

              “Queen.”

              “Daughter.”

              “Mother.”

              They stood there for a moment longer, before all tension left their bodies and they embraced.

              “It is good to see you gain, my child,” Hippolyta said, “Oh, and Donna! It is a wonder to see you as well, my daughter. I had no idea you were coming! How has this “college” been for you?”

              “Great,” Donna said, “It’s been great.”

              Hippolyta nodded, satisfied with Donna’s answer for now. She turned to Jason, who stiffened himself up to makes sure he was standing up straight. Hippolyta just giggled (she _giggled_ ) and lowered herself to her knees. “There is no need for such formalities here, Jason,” Hippolyta said, “After all, am I not your grandmother?” He sucked in a breath and looked her in the eyes. He had expected coldness perhaps, or judgement. But no, for the second time in as many days he was struck dumb by the sheer warmth that eyes could hold. So that’s where Diana got it from.

              Jason relaxed himself and did his best to smile. “Okay, I’ll remember that, Granny,” he said.

              “Granny? Oh, that’s disappointing,” Hippolyta said, “Considering how Diana talked about you I figured you call me something different. I must say, I am disappointed to not be referred to as an Old Hag.”

              Jason blinked at looked at Hippolyta for a moment. “Nah, that’s what I’m gonna save for Diana when she gets annoying,” Jason said, leaning in and pretending to whisper, “Besides, she has more wrinkles than you.”

              Diana gasped in horror, bringing her hand up to her chest in offence. “What!?! You little beast! That’s it, no video games for an entire week, Jason! No, two weeks! You need to learn to respect your elders!” the princess said. Hippolyta gave her daughter A Look™, showing how unimpressed she really was.

              “Now now, Diana, that’s an overreaction,” Hippolyta said, “Jason was only speaking the truth. I thought you valued the truth?”

              “Yeah, Di,” Donna said, “Don’t you value the truth?”

              “You’re plotting against me, all of you,” Diana said, “But you shall not defeat me!”

              “Well, I can,” Jason challenged.

              “Then prove it, little warrior,” Diana posturized, placing her hand at her hips and straightening her back, “Face me in battle.”

              “Alright,” Jason said, walking up. Looking Diana straight in the eyes, he converted to Puppy Eyes Mode™. Diana looked at him for a few moments before deflating.

              “Damn, he has puppy dog eyes. I was really hoping he didn’t,” she mumbled.

              Hippolyta laughed at her daughter before picking Jason up like he was a rag doll and placing him on the couch-thing next to her. “Now then, tell me how you met my daughter, little Jason. I have heard her side of the tale, but not yours. And I am very interested to hear the story of my grandson,” Hippolyta said.

              Jason smiled, and he told her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Jason meets the other Amazons and gets acquainted with Themyscira.


	4. Life Between the Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meetings and Forebodings arise.

By the end of the day, Hippolyta and Diana had managed to secure a right to citizenship for Jason. While she was certainly please by the relative ease of the outcome, Diana would admit to being surprised that Jason was so readily accepted by the Amazons. Especially considering the… history, Amazons had with accepting men into their ranks. “If you trust this boy to uphold our ways and are willing to devote yourself to his care,” Acantha had said in the Senate’s joint statement, “Then we see no reason that he should not be allowed to be counted among the Amazons.” And that was that. No fuss no bustle, just a declaration that Jason was free to join the Amazons and that was that. Well, aside from the feast they were holding in an hour in honor of the occasion. Which lead to the current situation.

              “Diana, this feels weird,” Jason said, holding his arms out. The boy was dressed in a chiton, a simple white cloth that covered his body, and was holding his arms out, inspecting himself in the mirror. “Is this what a dress feels like?”

              “No, dresses are usually stiffer,” Diana told him, “Now stand still, I need to make sure the belt is tight enough to make sure this whole thing doesn’t come undone.” Jason groaned but complied, letting Diana adjust his clothing as needed. “Do the sandals fit you okay?” she asked him.

              “Yeah, they’re fine,” Jason said.

              “Okay, just making sure. There! You should be all ready!” Diana said. Smirking, Jason turned to get a good look at himself in the mirror. What he was wearing was considered pretty casual wear by Amazonian standards, but it was decided that was for the best. Introducing Jason to all the complexities of Amazonian formal wear when he’d only been with Diana for four days (dear Goddesses, not even a week since she found him?) was asking for trouble, and no one wanted to overwhelm him. Besides, these days the only Amazonians that actually bothered to wear formal clothing outside of the Senate were Hippolyta and Phillipus, and that was just simply because they _preferred_ formal wear. Even for special occasions such as this, most Amazons just wore casual clothing anyways. It was paradise, after all. Who had time to bother with fancy dress-up in a utopia?

              “It’s pretty cool,” Jason said, eventually, “Kinda makes me feel like I’m in a fantasy novel or something.”

              Diana chuckled and ruffled his hair. “I am glad you like it. Now come, we must meet with Mother and Donna before the celebration begins,” Diana told him. He nodded and they left the room, making their way to the entrance of the palace, where Hippolyta and Donna awaited. Donna was dressed in similar clothing to Jason and Diana. A simple chiton with sandals. Although, unlike Diana and Jason, hers was black. As for Hippolyta, she was dressed in the same regalia she had on earlier in the Senate. Golden jewelry and accents dotter her clothes, her crown rested on her head, and in her hand she held a staff with vine-like decorations at the top. It was the symbol of Themysciran royalty, the Altakos.

              “Are you ready?” Hippolyta asked the two of them.

              “Yes, mother, we are ready,” Diana said. The three looked to Jason, who nodded. Smiling, Hippolyta nodded and led them out to the city square. It was already dark outside, the cool night air grazed on their skin. Diana could hear Jason’s shivering beside her as he rubbed his arms together. Diana smiled down at him. “Are you well, my little warrior?” she asked him.

              “Y-y-yeah, j-just peachy,” he said.

              “If you are cold-“ she said.

              “I’m fine,” he replied.

              Diana chuckled and continued to follow her mother and sister. Eventually, they made their way to the city square, where they stepped up to a stage that had been made for this occassion. The Amazons were already assembled, looking upon the royal family expectantly for the announcement. Phillipus and a few other members of the Amazonian royal guard stood on either side of the stage, always alert, even when danger had yet to be found. The four of them gathered on the stage, facing the crowd. Diana heard a very audible gulp from Jason as he stared into the crowd, unsure of what to do. She held out her arm and pulled him closer, hoping to set him at ease.

              “My fellow Amazons,” Hippolyta began, “As you can see, we have a newcomer among us. Four days ago, my daughter was assisting one of her allies in Man’s World in a battle against one of her enemies. Sometime before the battle, though, Diana found Jason stealing the tires off of the her ally’s car.”

              “Do they even know what a car is?” Jason whispered to Diana.

              She nodded. “I bring back pamphlets and other catalogs to show my sisters. They find the innovations of Man’s World to be quite quaint,” she said.

              “Quaint?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow.

              “Well, they _did_ build the invisible jet,” Diana said, “And I should probably show you the Purple Healing Ray sometime. I made that one myself.”

              “When caught in the act by Diana, and later her ally, the Batman, he was ready to defend himself against them in need be. Even knowing their superior strength, he stood his ground. His willpower and fighting spirit impressed my daughter greatly. Later, after the battle, she returned and provided him with food. Learning that Jason was without parents and alone on the streets of the Batman’s homeland, Gotham City, Diana chose to take the boy in and raise him as her own. Just this morning, the Senate approved his citizenship. So, Amazons of Themyscira, I am proud to show you my new grandson, Jason Todd!” The crowd roared and cheered in celebration as Jason was reluctantly pushed to the front for the Amazons to see as they cheered.

              Diana realized just then how overwhelming this must be for Jason. Just a few days ago he was a child on the streets. He didn’t think he _had_ a future. Just a long wait until he died of starvation. Now look what she was doing, putting him on display like some prized catch? What was she thinking? She could see it now, in the ways his shoulders tensed, how his head remained locked in place, how he didn’t move a muscle as the crowd roared. This was too much for him, too fast. He needed things to go slow quickly. She shot her mother a look, and Hippolyta understood immediately. The queen discreetly moved Jason behind her as she stepped in front of him. “Let the feast begin!” Hippolyta declared, her arms outstretched.

              The Amazons dispersed to partake in the festivities, but Diana just tuned them out. Instead, she moved to Jason’s side, holding him in her arms. “Are you okay, Jason?” she asked.

              He took a moment to answer, swallowing and continuing to stare at the general direction of the crowd. His view was still blocked by Hippolyta standing in front of him. “Y-yeah, that was just… a lot,” he said, “I- Were all those people cheering because of _me?”_

              Diana nodded. “Yes, they were,” she said.

              “Why?” he asked.

              “Because they were happy to have a new sist- er, brother,” Diana replied.

              Jason cocked his head to the side. “Why?” he asked again. And Diana’s heart broke just a little more.

              “If it’s too much, we can go back to the palace,” Diana said, “Would you prefer that?”

              “Um, well, I’d like to, but-“ Jason said, “But didn’t they come here to meet me?”

              “Jason, you are my son, not some pretty thing for my sisters to coo at,” Diana said, “If you feel uncomfortable, I’ll take you back to the palace and we can do something to pass the time.”

              “Ah-okay,” he said at last, “Sure.”

              Diana smiled and turned her head towards her mother and Donna. “Jason and I shall be returning to the palace now,” she told them.

              Hippolyta and Donna nodded in understand. Standing up, Diana took Jason’s hand and they walked back to the palace together. It was a slow walk, quieter and more solemn than the walk to the square, but Jason felt safer now. Less exposed. When he’d said yes to Diana’s offer, he hadn’t expected… this. He figured she’d store him away in some secluded house or something, and visit him to make sure he has a proper education. Maybe take him out for ice cream. But now he’s met the people she’s worked with, seen where she grew up, met her mother (his grandmother, and what an odd idea that was), met her sister (his aunt), and become the celebrated prince of a foreign nation. This was just… too much for him.

              The palace felt lonelier now. Almost empty. The servants had since gone down to the feast, and the guards had joined them. The torches were not lit, and their footsteps echoed in the hallway. If Jason wasn’t with Diana, he’d probably be convinced that there was a monster waiting on the other end of one of the hallways, waiting to pounce on him. She led him to one of the waiting rooms, and moved to light the torches.

              “So, is there anything in particular you’d like to do? I could go to the library, get some scrolls for us to read. The text is enchanted so anyone can understand it, so you’ll have no problems with the language. How’s that sound?” she asked.

              “Uh, sure, that sounds good,” Jason said. Diana walked over to Jason and kissed him on the forehead.

              “Very well, would you like to come with me?” she asked him. He looked around the room, at the comfy pillows and the inviting chairs. He turned towards Diana and shook his head. She nodded in understanding, before leaving with a promise to return with some scrolls she thought he might like. When she was gone he took a seat on a couch with its back to the door and sat in silence. A breeze ran across the room, causing Jason to shiver. He should’ve asked Diana if she could get a blanket while she was getting the scrolls. Oh well, too late now.

              It was silent for a bit, and Jason wondered how far away the library was for Diana to be taking this long. The room was too quiet for him, and too cold. It reminded him of the nights he spent sleeping in the street, alone and afraid. Especially those first nights after his Mom died. He curled up, the cold of the room increasing as he started to wonder if he should leave and look for Diana. It was then he heard pounding footsteps on the other side of the door, and a voice calling out, “Diana! Where the hell are you!?!”

              It was brusk and sudden, catching Jason off guard. The door to the room was slammed opened to reveal a tall woman, taller than even Diana. She had red hair tied into a pony tail that came down all the way to the back of her legs. She wore black and red armor, clearly ready to enter combat at a moment’s notice, and she had very big muscles. If Jason were to guess, this woman would have an easier time snapping him in half than Diana, if she wanted. “I swear, those Themyscirans, they’re so-“ the woman stopped, her eyes falling upon Jason in surprise. Narrowing them, she marched over to Jason and pulled him out of the seat, making it so that he was eyelevel with her. “Who are you?” she asked firmly, drilling into Jason’s eyes with her own, “How did you get here? No men are allowed on this island.”

              He kicked her in the face. It didn’t seem to affect her much, so he kicked her again. And again. And again. And again. And again. Honestly, it just seemed like the woman was more annoyed by his efforts than actually harmed by them. When they continued to not work, Jason began calling out, “Diana! Diana help! The giant bitch is threatening me!”

              “ _What_ did you call me?” she asked.

              Continuing his kicking, Jason answered, “A giant bitch.”

              The woman was angry now. She reached out and, with one hand, held Jason’s legs together so that he couldn’t continue kicking her. “I am not a bitch,” she said.

              “You pick me up, threaten me, and treat me like I just killed your dog when I’ve done nothing to you!” Jason yelled, “How are you _not_ a bitch? Diana! Diana! The crazy red-haired giant bitch lady isn’t self-aware!”

              “Why do you keep doing that?” the woman asked.

              He glared at her. Wasn’t it obvious? “Because you picked me up and haven’t put me down. Duh,” he said, “Diana! Diana, I swear to God you better get here now or-“

              The bitch-woman groaned. “No, why are you calling Diana of all people? How do you know her?” she asked.

              Jason managed to pull one of his legs free (at the cost of his sandal) so he began kicking her again with his bare foot. “Because she’s my mom!” Jason yelled, “Diana! Your epic rescue is _late!”_

The woman stared at him in dumbfoundment for a moment, processing his words for some weird reason. Then she started yelling, “SHE’S YOU _WHAT?”_  

              It was, of course, at that point where Diana decided to finally come in and rescue him, carrying a bunch of scrolls that fell to the ground. “Artemis! Put Jason down!” Diana yelled. He turned towards “Artemis” and stuck out his tongue. Instead of letting him go, though, Artemis just held him out at an angle which made it very hard for him to continue kicking her. She’d removed her hand from his other, trapped leg and had used it to point at him. He started trying to pry the fingers holding him open.

              “Who was it?” Artemis asked, “Who is this child’s father? It’s that soldier, isn’t it? Stephan Treevore? No, the other one! You have not spoken in some years. It is the man you work with at the UN, Trevor Barney! Wait, no, he is of dark skin. This child does not have the skin to match a father of his pallet.” She stared at him a moment before snapping her fingers, “I know! It’s the Kryptonian! Clerk Can’t! Or was is Call-Mell?”

              “It’s none of them,” Diana said, “I am adopting Jason! Now for the love of both our Goddesses, put him down, Artemis!” Huffing, Artemis dropped Jason onto the couch, causing him to bounce for a moment as he landed. Straightening himself so that he could get up on his knees, he spat at Artemis.

              “Jason, stop that!” Diana said.

              He turned to Diana and huffed. “She picked me up and threatened me, Diana! What am I supposed to do, let her get away with it?” he asked.

              She narrowed her eyes. “No, you’re supposed to let me handle it,” she chastised.

              “The boy called me a bitch, Diana,” Artemis supplied, “He should be properly disciplined. …What?”

              Diana had an odd expression on her face. It looked like she was conflicted about whether or not she needed to say something, but in a very constipated way. “What is it?” Artemis asked again.     

              Diana raised her hand in an odd gesture. “Well, I mean, he’s not wrong,” she said. Artemis looked indignant.

              “How dare-“

              Jason laughed. “I win, bit-“

              Diana glared down at him. “Jason,” she said. He shut up.

              Diana let out a sigh and turned towards the other Amazon, shaking her head. “What is it, Artemis? Has something come up with the Bana?” she asked.

              Artemis looked between Jason and Diana for a moment, before nodding. “Yes, we received word that the Amazonian Senate had an impromptu meeting today,” Artemis said, “The Bana-Mighdall are… concerned, with the fact none of the Bana delegates were invited.”

              Having picked up the scrolls from the ground, Diana sighed and made her way to the couch with Jason sitting on it. “It was purely a Themysciran affair, Artemis. It had nothing to do with the Bana,” Diana explained, “Me and my mother were merely trying to get Jason’s adoption approved by the Themysciran Senate. Purely an internal affair.”

              Artemis nodded. “I see. I’ll tell them when I return, then,” she said, “And if you don’t mind me asking, where are the rest of the Themyscirans?”

              Diana sat down next to Jason, handing him the scrolls and showing them to him. “They are at the feast celebrating Jason’s adoption,” she explained, “We realized Jason was uncomfortable with so much attention, so I took him back to the palace. See, this one’s written about the Amazonian Warrior Navara’s adventures, Jason. It was inscribed by her lover, Aliopte.”

              Artemis nodded in understanding. “Very well, then. I shall inform them upon my return,” she said, moving to leave the room.

              “Would you like to stay for a bit?” Diana asked, “It’s been a while since we last saw each other, Artemis. Perhaps we could catch up?”

              Artemis turned towards Diana and smirked. “Not in a million years, Princess.”

**WW**

              After saying goodbye to Hippolyta and the rest of the Amazons, the three of them returned to the States and the Embassy. The following days were slow, as Diana and the rest of the Embassy worked to make Jason’s adoption official. There were a lot of meetings he had to go to with Diana to tell them that _yes,_ he wanted to live with her. No, the visit to Themyscira wasn’t him being kidnapped and no, he’s not being abused. They even had one in front of Congress. Jason didn’t really remember a lot about it other than being really mad at the people Diana had to talk to.

There was one part he did remember, though. It was the part where Diana looked one scruffy old white man squarely in the eye and said, “Senator, if I hadn’t chosen to adopt Jason, you wouldn’t have ever given a shit about his “personal wellbeing” seeing as how he was an orphan living on the streets. So excuse me if I remain unimpressed by your bullshit.”

              Turns out, even if you’re right, cursing out a Senator in front of the entirety of Congress doesn’t actually help you get what you want. After that, Diana had to ask Batm- sorry, Bruce Wayne, to help her lobby Congress to pass whatever they had to pass. In the meantime he’d been enrolled in an actual school. It was okay, all things considered. The kids looked at him with a mix of worship and revulsion, depending on the individual. He was practically royalty to them in all the good ways and the bad. Kids were jealous of his perceived wealth, others were crowding around him, hoping to get favors with the son of Wonder Woman.

              It all overwhelmed Jason a bit, honestly. He wasn’t used to so many people giving him this much attention. There were times where he wished they’d go away, so he could sit back and read his book. He wished that this also didn’t apply to the teachers, but it did. God, it was so obvious when one of them was sucking up or trying to “take him down a peg”. He grew up on the streets of Gotham, for crying out loud, and he’d never seen people act this concerning.

              He didn’t tell Diana any of this, of course. Between her ambassadorial work and the superhero stuff, she had enough on her plate as it was. She didn’t have time to deal with a parent/principal meeting that would do nothing to solve the problem. So he just kept quiet and told her his day was good.

              He couldn’t say he wasn’t enjoying his life, though. Diana was awesome, Ferdinand cooked great, Bobby and Martin were fun to play with, and whenever Donna came over she always had some new book he’d never seen before. Overall, life was pretty good for them. Maybe that’s what caused Jason to get too comfortable, to think that everything was perfect and nothing was going to go wrong. How could he be so stupid? It never worked that way.

              It happened on a quiet night at the Themysciran Embassy. He and Diana had the place to themselves for the next few days due to a series of coincedences. Peter and his sons had gone off on a family vacation, Ferdinand was off helping Rachel with some Embassy stuff in Italy, Alanna had taken time off as well to attend her sister’s wedding, and it was Wednesday, so Donna was off at college and hanging with the Titans. It hadn’t seemed like a particularly foreboding night, honestly. It was quiet outside as the part of New York the Themysciran Embassy was in didn’t get much nighttime traffic, and Jason had been huddled in Diana’s office reading a book.

              But it was a night he would remember. When the first thing to go wrong in his life with Diana went wrong. The one he would remember for years to come. Even as he crawled about in the dark, hoping desperately to reach the top of the pit.

              It was the night Danielle Wellys came to the Embassy.

_“I offer myself in supplication._

_I come without protection._

_I come without means._

_Without Honor._

_Without Hope._

_With nothing but myself._

_To beg for your protection._

_In your shadow I will serve._

_By your breath will I breathe._

_By your words will I speak._

_By your mercy, will I live._

_With all my heart, with everything I can offer, I beg you, in Zeus’s name, who watches over all supplicants, accept my plea.”_

_-The words of the Hiketeia_


	5. The Hiketeia Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Embassy receives a visitor.
> 
> Note: Some of the dialogue in this chapter is taken from The Hiketeia by Greg Rucka and JG Jones. I do not own this dialogue and the only reason I have kept it with a few changes is because I saw no way the domino effect would change the interaction.

              The night had not been stormy, it had not been chaotic, and there had there been no sign of what was to come. In fact, it was calm outside that night. Which was to be expected, really. Diana had chosen this location for the embassy because this side of New York, miraculously, was usually fairly quiet at night, as opposed to busier parts of the city. This made it fairly easy to relax at nights without having to buy special soundproofing for the windows.

They’d been up in Diana’s office at the time, Jason reading a book and Diana standing by the windowsill, sipping some hot chocolate. Diana was dressed casual for the night. All she had on were a white T-Shirt, sweatpants, and slippers. Meant more for comfort than for show or functionality. For whatever reason the press had decided to be particularly pushy today in their intended interviews with Diana over the alien invasion in Central City she helped the Justice League stop a week ago. It had taken an afternoon’s worth of waiting, but they were gone now. The last of them dispursing sometime around 4:30. Now, he and Diana were just enjoying a quiet night together. He hadn’t realized anything was particularly wrong until Diana said, “Jason, stay here.”

              He looked up from his book, a copy of _Medea,_ with confusion as Diana exited the room in a hurry and beelined for the stairs just outside. Slowly putting his book down, he headed towards the window that Diana had been looking out of so he could figure out what had caused her to react so suddenly. Outside, he saw a girl (well, young woman) shivering in the night air. She wore ripped jeans, beaten tennis shoes, a tank top, and looked like shit. The look in her eyes as she kept them pasted on the entrance to the embassy was one that Jason was all too familiar with. He’d seen it a thousand times on the Gotham Streets. _She’s running from something._ Jason thought.

              The moment Diana had opened the door and stepped outside to greet her, the woman outside the embassy threw herself at Diana’s feet and started kissing. But it wasn’t the standard kind of kissing you’d see a relieved person in a cartoon do or something. Nothing irreverent or sloppy like that. No, it was reserved, practiced, and almost ritualistic. He could tell from the woman’s moving mouth that she was saying something. What, he couldn’t say. When she was done, Diana smiled at her and lifted the girl up so she could help her inside. Rushing back towards his earlier seat was, so as not to arouse suspiction, Jason picked up his book and pretended nothing was up as Diana brought the girl into the office and placed her by the fireplace. “What would you like to drink?” Diana asked her.

              “Cuh-cuh-coco,” the girl replied. Smiling, Diana nodded and got up.

              As she made her way to the door, Diana leaned in close to Jason and whispered, “Be nice,” before she finished her trek to the doorway. He didn’t go back to his book, then. Instead he looked at the girl, disheveled and shivering by the fireplace, and called out to her.

              “Uh, hey, my name’s Jason,” he said, “What’s yours?”

              “Duh-Danielle Wuh-Wellys,” she said.

              Jason nodded, unsure of what else to do. Thankfully, that’s when Diana returned with a new cup of hot chocolate for Danielle. Handing it to her, Diana said, “Here, take this. It’ll help you warm up quicker.”

              Carefully, Danielle took the drink and replied, “Thank you, p-p-princess.”

              “Call me Diana,” she said, walking back towards the window, “And this is my son, Jason.”

              “He already intro-troduced himself,” Danielle said.

              Stopping by the window, Diana nodded, gazing out onto the street. “How long have they been following you?” Diana asked. He knew it. Danielle _was_ running from someone.

              Danielle looked up, startled at the question. “W-who?” she asked.

              “The Erinyes,” Diana asked, looking out on at the street. Confused, both Jason and Danielle got up and walked over to the window where Diana stood.

              “The Erinyes. Those are… y-you mean the F-Furies?” Danielle asked. Jason knew that name. He’d read about them in a book. The Erinyes, monsters of the underworld sent out to avenge the breaking of ancient laws and oaths. Specifically, the ones which say “don’t kill your family members” and the ones guarding hospitality. That second one had a bunch of subcategories such as not killing your guests, being a generous host, and the ancient rite of…. Jason looked to Danielle, and suddenly, he understood.

              Hiketeia. He read about it in one of the Greek tragedies he’d been going through recently. The binding of a fortunate man to one less fortunate than him. If one agreed to Hiketeia then the supplicator (the rich dude) must provide for the supplicant (the poor dude)’s comfort. They must be allowed access to the hearth, given a seat of honor at the dining table, and protected at all costs. In return, the supplicant assists the supplicator with any task they deem necessary so long as it does not harm the supplicant. The foot kissing, the words… Diana was bound in a Hikiteia with Danielle, and the only way out would be for Danielle to release Diana.

              “Yes, down there in the street. Do you see them?” Diana replied. Looking out the window, Jason saw no one. Just an empty street with litter on the ground. But that didn’t mean the Furies weren’t there. It just meant that Jason wasn’t allowed to see him. Shit, Themyscira was one thing, but Gods were involved now. No, worse, monsters that even Gods feared.

              “N-no, I don’t,” Danielle said, “I’m s-s-sorry.” Diana looked at Jason.

              He shook his head. “Me neither,” he said. Diana nodded, and closed the curtains.

“How about we get you something to eat, Danielle?” she asked.

              After Danielle had eaten her fill and been given Diana’s room to sleep in (as was required), Diana and Jason met outside the room in the hallway. Quietly shutting the door behind her, Diana breathed in and out heavily, looking at Jason without an ounce of humor in her eyes. “Jason, there is something you need to understand about the relationship between me and Danielle,” she said.

              “Hiketeia, right?” he asked. Diana’s eyes widened in shock. “What?” he asked, “I read.”

              Diana nodded and lifted herself up from the doorframe. “Yes, me and Danielle are bound in Hiketeia,” she said, “From now until such a time as Danielle sees fit, my home is hers. My table is hers. My hearth is hers. While she stays with us, for however long that may be, you are to treat her with absolute respect. I do not know if the oath extends to you or not, but it is better to be safe than sorry.”

              “Got it,” he said.

              “Now,” Diana said, “I do believe it’s time we got you off to bed, hm? It’s still a school night, and magical oath or no you still need your sleep.” Jason smiled and nodded. Then, Diana, against Jason’s adamant protests, picked him up and carried him off to his bedroom like he was still a toddler. It was a small comfort, in the face of it all.

**WW**

              The next day, after school, Jason walked into Diana’s office to find Danielle sitting at the desk, sorting papers. The sight struck him as odd for a second, and then he remembered the part of Hiketeia where the supplicant had to do work for the supplicator. Guess this is what Diana told Danielle to do. “L-L-Lawson,” Danielle muttered, scanning the drawers.

              “Hey, Danielle,” Jason said as he made his way over to his usual chair. Haphazardly he dropped the backpack next to the chair and scooted in, before digging out his homework.

              Startled, Danielle shot up, and looked at Jason. “Oh, h-h-hi there, Ja-Jason,” she said, “How was sch-sch-school?”

              “It was fine,” he said, getting out his homework, “Kids’re annoying as usual.”

              Danielle chuckled and opened up the drawer, placing the paper she had in her hands in it before closing it. “Thu-they usually, a-are,” she said, “Th-they juh-just get worse.”

              “You don’t have to tell me that,” he said, “I grew up in Gotham.”

              Danielle let out a distinct humph as she sorted the next sheet of paper. “Sh-shitty place to grow u-up in,” she said.

              “Yeah, especially if you’re a street rat like I was,” Jason said, “I’m glad Diana grabbed me off of that.”

              Danielle said nothing, just kept sorting the papers. Jason shrugged and turned to his homework. After a bit, without looking up, he asked, “Hey, Danielle, if you don’t know that’s fine, but do you know how to multiply fractions?”

              Danielle looked up from her work and cocked her head. Scooting out of the chair, she made her way over to Jason and looked over his shoulders. “You get the du-duh-denominators the same a-and then multiply like nor-normal on the nuh-numerator,” she said.

              Jason looked up at her in surprise. He… hadn’t actually thought she’d known. Danielle had always struck him as someone like him, too busy trying to stay alive to actually have time to learn anything. This was… not what he expected. She blinked at Jason’s expression, confused. “Wuh-What? I went to school,” she said simply. Well, yeah, that’s fair.

              “Right, so, uh, if it’s fine with you, could you help?” Jason said, “Since Diana’s the supplicator, I’m not sure if her word takes precedence over mine or...”

              “No, it’s fuh-fine,” Danielle said, “You’re a m-member of the household just as much as her. A-as long as I finish later it should be fine.”

              Jason nodded. “That’s good to hear,” he said. When Diana walks in an hour later, fresh from a Justice League meeting, they’re hunched over Jason’s English homework as Danielle works him through clauses and prepositions. Honestly, whoever decided to add all these rules to English was stupid.

              “Hey, Diana,” Jason said, “How was the meeting?”

              “It was fine,” she said as she fell down onto the seat across from them, “Bruce didn’t show up, _again._ Kal said he was working on a serial killer case outside of Gotham.”

              “Bruce?” Danielle asked, confused.

              “Batman,” Diana explained. Danielle’s eyes grew wide at the name, taken aback.

              “Buh-buh-buh-Buhatman?” she asked, shocked.

              Diana and Jason looked at her expression for a moment before laughing. “Yes, Batman,” Diana said, “You’ll find that, around here, I tend to drop people’s regular names all the time in casual conversation. As long as you aren’t planning on assassinating anyone’s loved ones, you’ll be fine.”

              “I duh-duh-don’t intend to,” Danielle said.

              “Excellent,” she said, “Well, I’ll leave you two to the homework while I go take a shower.” As she exited the room, Jason turned towards Danielle. She looked pale, scared almost.

              “Danielle? Are you-okay?” he asked.

              Snapped out of her daze, Danielle’s head turned towards him and smiled weakly. “N-no,” she said, “Luh-let’s get buh-back to your huh-homework, ok?” He nodded and they did just that. Jason didn’t bring up Batman again. There was a story behind that, he could tell that much. But he’d spent enough time in Gotham to know you don’t pry into someone else’s secrets.

**WW**

              Danielle helped him with his homework every afternoon over the next couple days, explaining concepts he wasn’t getting quite right or just going over his head entirely in a way he could actually understand. Diana would smile whenever she saw the two of them, apparently finding it sweet that they were getting along. It was during that time Ferdinand came back, having stated that his services were not longer needed in Italy and perfectly happy to have a new mouth to cook for. In the mornings, Danielle would go with Diana on her daily business, and in the afternoon take a break to help Jason with his homework before returning to her duties. She was pretty busy, but she took to the work well. It was a good time, in Jason’s opinion.

              One night, between stuff for Diana and Jason’s more demanding than usual homework, Danielle ended up practically passed out at the desk from how tired she was. Not wanting to wake her, Jason had come in with some blankets for her while Diana went off to make some hot chocolate. Quietly, he entered the room, carrying the folded up blanket in his arms. Diana said she’d follow soon with some coco for the three of them to drink. He hadn’t noticed it at first. He’d been too busy making sure Danielle was comfortable and he wasn’t entirely aligned with the balcony doors to see it.

              As he finished, Jason noticed the book he’d been reading earlier that day was still on the coffee table. Shit, he had rushed out of there earlier that day. Probably left it on the table in his rush. When the blanket was set firmly around Danielle’s shoulders, he made his way over to the table and picked it up. As he turned around take the book to the proper shelf he froze. There was something, some kind of black… creature on the balcony, looking in. He could barely make out its full shape as it looked straight at him. A fire burned in its eyes as it seemingly tore through every strip of flesh and soul Jason had in him until only his most basic components remained. It was a primal force that didn’t seem to even care if a mountain stood in its way or not. The mountain would move for it if need be.

              Jason’s head spun as he tried to remember all his readings on Greek mythology to figure out what it was. Medusa? No, he wasn’t stone yet. Was it a harpy? No, the wings were wrong. Cyclops, Hydra, sphinx? No, this thing was too small. Chimera, maybe. No, that was a lion, goat, and snake smashed together. This thing just looked like a…… like a bat.

              _Oh, so that’s why people are scared of him._

He hadn’t realized he’d been falling over until Diana caught him and put him on the nearest chair. Reaching up gently, she put her finger over her mouth with the shush sign forming. Jason nodded in understanding as she got up and walked to the balcony, opening the doors to the beast.

              “Batman. Good evening,” she greeted. Codenames, then. So this was business.

              He lifted his feet off of the railing and stood on the balcony proper. “You’re harboring a fugitive, princess. I’m here to take her back to Gotham,” he said. He didn’t call her by her name or her codename. Just “princess”. A chill ran down Jason’s spine.

              “Batman, wait-“

              “I’ve chase her a long way, princess. I’m not stopping now,” he said.

              He saw Diana’s fist clench. “Please, listen to me-“

              “Save it. She escaped me twice,” he interrupted, “She doesn’t get three.” He began to move towards the balcony, not caring that it was his friend’s home. Diana moved to block his path.

              “No, I cannot allow it!” she said

              “She’s a killer, princess.”

              “It doesn’t matter.”

              “It should. It does to me,” Batman replied as he maneuvered to try and get around her, “Now, if you’ll excuse-“

              Diana held her arm out and blocked the full doorway, impeding Batman’s advances.

              “No. I _cannot_ allow this,” she said.

              That’s when he saw Danielle waking up from the corner of his eye. As her eyes fluttered open and the blanket fell from her back, she turned towards Jason. He looked her in the eyes and he was sure from her expression that she saw the fear in his. This wasn’t like the night he stole the tires. This wasn’t some dare gone too far or a simple robbery. This was Batman out for blood. A girl had run all the way from Gotham to New York and eluded him every step of the way. Not Joker not Penguin not any one of his usual rogues. A _girl._ One who’d apparently killed someone. Jason would reserve judgement until he found out who she killed.

              Danielle walked around the desk, slowly moving to get a better look at what was going on outside. Jason followed her movements along the way. He discreetly motioned towards the back of his chair, and thankfully, she understood. Slowly, Danielle ducked down behind it just enough so that way only her eyes were exposed on the sight before them. He did his best to try and obstruct Batman’s view of her.

              “She is under my protection!” Diana insisted for the hundredth time.

              “Then you’ve made yourself an accessory to murder after the fact, princess,” he said, “The GCPD has a warrant outstanding for Danielle “Danny” Wellys. Do we need the NYPD involved, too!?!”

              “There must be another solution!” Diana argued.

              Batman flared his caped defensively, scoffing at the notion. “What other one is needed? This is a matter for the law, Diana, not you.”

               Diana straightened her back, done trying to play nice. “Wellys is my supplicant, Batman. If the word means anything to you, she and I have Hiketeia. And that vow holds more power than any threat you bear,” she said, “I will not- I cannot- abandon her. Not to you nor to anyone else who comes seeking her.

              He moved again, trying to force his way past Diana. She held him off, again, but Jason was able to see that Danielle had been caught in Batman’s sight. He growled at her, anger pulsing in every word he spoke. “Wellys!” he yelled, “Tell the princess what you’ve done! Tell her how you’ve tricked her! Tell her what you did to Roy Braddock and to Artie Mason and to Steven Rittenhouse and to Peter Collins. Tell her how you hunted and murdered each of those men! Tell her!” He reached for a roped batarang in his utility belt and threw it right at Danielle

              Diana caught it in her hands and crushed it. “I said **no!** ” she roared at him, “Leave here. We can speak of this again later.”

              “You’re a friend, Diana, but you’re making a mistake. Don’t make me go through you.”    

              She looked him in the eye. “You can’t go through me, Bruce,” she said.

              She hit Batman in the face, and he was sent propelling off the balcony into the street below. Jason heard a distinct thud on the sidewalk as Diana looked down at wherever Batman had fallen and said, “We will speak of this later. Now, you are to leave.”

              With that, Wonder Woman turned around and slammed the balcony doors behind her.

**WW**

              She came to New York when she learned of the boy’s adoption. When she heard it on the news back in Ontario, her curiosity got the better of her. The first day back in the city had just been her figuring out what vantage points were most useful for spying on the embassy without being spotted. Eventually, she settled on a nice collection of trees in the park just across the street from it that people rare, if ever, walked by. Not the most discreet hiding spot, she would admit, but practical for her needs.

              There was nothing particularly special about the boy- Jason Todd. From what she understood, the princess literally picked him up off the streets in Gotham. That little tidbit surprised her at first, until she realized of _course_ the princess adopted a piece of street trash. Diana had always had a bleeding heart.

              She could’ve killed the boy when he was at school and without his newfound mother’s protection. It would have been easy to just walk in and break his neck or slit his throat. Hell, she probably could have killed a bunch of the leeches that swarmed him every day as well for posterities sakes. It would’ve been fun, to see all those children scream and run as their classmates were ripped apart. But she didn’t do it, because right now, she was only here to observe. There was no reason to rush a hunt like this. Especially when you’re not sure if the hunt will be worth it or not. Right now, all she wanted to do was observe.

              Well, at least, that was the plan. Her intentions had changed somewhat when the princess had gone and gotten herself tied in a little Hiketeia and suddenly, the key to the princess’s downfall was laid bare before her. All she needed to do was kill the girl who’d bound herself to the princess and her revenge would be complete. The Furies would descend upon Diana in retribution and _finally_ Wonder Woman would be dead.

              The problem with this plan was that there had yet to be an opportunity for her to attack. If the girl wasn’t within ten feet of the princess during her supplicant duties, then she was in the Embassy, which was heavily warded against her entering the premises. She could probably break them, but she also didn’t want to test the combined magic of Doctor Fate, Zatanna, and Constantine.

But now, finally, and opportunity had presented itself. The little Bat boy from Gotham came and tried to take the girl away. Apparently the girl had murdered four me. Fine, if nothing else Danielle Wellys would be allowed a small amount of respect for that. Four deaths was quite impressive for a normal girl such as her.

Nevertheless, the situation was a perfect one for her. Right now, she could see three paths this tragedy could take. The first, would be if Batman took the girl out of the Embassy  before Diana noticed. All she’d have to do was cut Batman down and kill the girl. The second, and most preferable, was if the girl ran away in fear, not wanting to drag the princess down with her. If that were the case, she wouldn’t even have to worry about Batman. She could just kill the girl and be done with it. The final, and most likely, possibility would be that Diana would evacuate the girl from the Embassy in an attempt to save her. The girl would be more heavily guarded then so it wasn’t the most preferable path. But it would still mean it’d be her last chance to kill the girl before she reached Themyscira and was gone forever. In any case, any one of these would be a good chance to strike. And when the hunt was done… well, no more Diana.

              She smiled her wide, toothy smile, and purred. “I can’t wait, Preeeeeeeeeetty Prrrrrrrrrrrrincessssss.”


	6. The Hiketeia Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter contains references to abuse, rape, drugs, and about a hundred other messed up things. You have been warned.
> 
>  
> 
> Once again, I took a lot of the dialogue for the first part of this chapter from The Hiketeia itself, but did edit parts to flow better in a text format. No infringement was intended by this. I'm not making any money off of this fic. I was merely trying to be as close to the original story as possible.

There’s a moment of silence where Diana looks down on Bruce from the balcony, making absolutely sure he leaves. Only when she sees him walk off into the distance and drive off in the Batmobile does she finally turn around. She sees Jason holding Danielle on the floor, trying to comfort her and make her feel safe again. Those names. Bruce had said they were people Danielle had murdered. Was it true? Was he absolutely sure? That was a silly question, of course he was sure. Bruce never made accusations about something like that if he wasn’t almost certain the person actually did it.

In the end though, it’s not like it mattered. She was bound to protect Danielle with her life. Murderer or not, they had Hiketeia. There was nothing she could do.

As Danielle’s breathing slowed down to a more stable rate, she spoke up. “Princess… I…” she tried to say.

Diana made her way towards the door, beckoning Danielle and Jason to follow. “You need rest,” she said sternly, “We can talk tomorrow.”

As she exited into the hall, Jason and Danielle quickly ran after her.

“Hey, Diana, wait! You should just let her-“

“I-I should ex-“

She turned towards them. “It doesn’t _matter,”_ she said.

Danielle raced up to Diana, throwing herself at the princess’s feet. “It’s not wh-what he says! Not- Not like he says,” she begged, “Please, Diana!”

Gritting her teeth, she picked Danielle off the ground and brought the girl back onto her feet. This had to stop now. “It doesn’t matter.” she said, “I gave you my vow. Unless you intend to release me, there is only one course here.” Hera help her, it was a truth. She would fight her friend to the death to protect this girl if need be. No matter the reason for her requesting Diana’s aid.

“Diana, please,” Jason says as he catches up to them, “Just let her explain.” She and Jason share a gaze for a long moment, his eyes soft but defiant. Danielle takes the pause as an opportunity to run into the armory. Diana and Jason turn in the direction she ran, shocked at the sudden pace.

“Danny, stop! This room is not meant for you!” she cried as they entered.

Danielle turns towards her, tears of anger in her eyes. “You believe him! You think I tr-tricked you!” she yelled.

_What else am I supposed to believe, Danny?_

“I don’t know what to believe,” Diana said instead, “I knew this was possible, but I trusted you to be honest with me.” Danielle flinches at that, just the smallest bit as Diana continues, “I treated you as a sister. And…now I must fight a friend for you.”

Danielle hand reaches out to grab something from the display. Diana’s eyes quickly dart to the object in the direct path of Danielle’s hand and her blood runs cold. The Lasso. “Don’t touch that!” she yells

“I had a reason!” Danielle screams, grabbing it off the pedestal, “I didn’t lie!” She wraps it around her arms and holds the other end to Diana, practically begging her to take the other end. But she’s not sure she wants to. Not sure she wants to know why four people are dead.

“Danny, put it down!” she tries.

“All you have to do iss ask me! Ask me and I won’t lie!” she cries out as she falls to her knees in tears, the lasso now wrapped around her arms, “Ask me and I won’t luh-lie and you can truh-trust me again. Ask me.”

Diana stares down at the crying girl at her feet, unsure of what to do. Her eyes dart towards her son, who nods in response. Slowly, Diana picks up the other end of the Lasso and holds it in her hands. “Did you kill those men?” she asks.

“Yes,” Danielle answers, “Now a-ask me _why.”_

She does.

“I had a sister, that’s why. I had a sister and th-they took her and th-they used her and then th-they _killed_ her. Gotham is not Webester Groves, Missouri. Melody knew that when she left. She just didn’t know how much different it was. And _no_ they didn’t put the needle in her arm the last time, but they did the first.

Braddock paid to bring her out. Told her he had plans for her. That he’d take care of her. That’s the first way they control you. They take your trust. Then they take your things: your clothes, your money, credit cards, anything that can be considered yours. They told her she owed them for the bus ticket. But she could pay the debt if she posed. She was in a strange city all alone, and Braddock threatens her. But he doesn’t hit her. Not _yet_ anyways. He doesn’t need to.

After all, she has no money and nowhere to go. They didn’t give her a choice, and they didn’t give her a chance. So, Mason takes the pictures. And when that humiliation is over, they offer sympathy. Tell her it’s not forever. That it’s just for the ticket. It’s a lie, of course. They’re just getting started. They offer her a drink and the drink is drugged. It’s time for another humiliation. Time for another way to control her. This time, they shame her and take her worth. They call it making movies.

It didn’t take long to control everything else, of course. What she ate, where she slept, when she slept, and even what she wore. Whenever she tries to fight back, they just hurt her. And when the pain didn’t stop her, they put a needle in her arm so that she wouldn’t care anymore. So that way she’ll be numb and complacent and won’t fight again.

Her career was short-lived, but there was still money to be made. Not money for her, of course. That’d be ridiculous. No, Melody’s just an appliance now. Something to be used. Something for a half hours’ fun. Rittenhouse and Collins, they were her most frequent partrons.

Not that it matters, though. By that point, there’s not much left of Melody. When she died… when died the cops made jokes. Because she was just another junkie whore. Another body for the mortuary.

They murdered my baby sister. They had to answer. The Erinyes saod she had to be ah-avenged. They said it was juh-justice. They said it would make it buh-better,” Danielle said as the tears dried up.

Diana’s blood froze. “They came to you? The Erinyes appeared to you?” she asked.

Danielle nodded, head now staring blankly at the floor. “All Meldoy ever wanted was to be a star. All I ever wanted… was to be like _you,”_ she said as the tears began to return, “To be strong and good. I taught myself ancient Greek. I read everything I could. To be like _you._ To do what you could do. They had to answer, Diana! That was the Law!” She’s crying so much now. Tears are falling down her face like a rain shower as she cries and screams out to the heavens. And Diana doesn’t think Danielle wants them to stop. She wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first time Danielle has cried since she learned her sister was dead.

Jason runs up to Danielle and throws his arms around her, holding on as tightly as he can. Diana lowers herself to her knees and joins them. “It was the law, Danny,” she says, “three thousand years ago.”

When she’s seen Danny and Jason to bed, Diana lays awake in her bed wondering- if it had been Donna or Jason or Artemis, what would she have done? Would she have delivered the same vengeance down upon the people who had stripped everything away from them? She didn’t know, and she prayed to every God she could name that she’d never have to find out.

**WW**

Jason watches as Danielle tries to make her way to the doorway, scared and in pain. She was probably terrified of what bringing Batman down on Diana would cause. Grateful for her help, but afraid to drag her down further. He figured she’d try something like this. Most people scared and on the run usually did. Jason clenches his teeth and runs up to her before she can reach the door, tugging on her jacket. “Don’t go, Danielle. Please,” he said, “You’ll be safe here.”

“He-He’ll come, you know,” Danielle said, “He’ll come and he’ll tear apart everything she’s built to get to me. I-I can’t let him do that.”

“And he won’t, Danny,” he says, “Diana’s tough. She can kick Batman’s ass any day of the week. All you’ll do by leaving is force Diana to follow.”

“Sh-she’s only doing this be-because of the Hik-Hiketeia,” Dannielle counters.

Jason shook his head and smiled. “No, she’s not,” he said, “Even if you release her, she’ll still help you. Just… come back to bed, alright. You’re scared and not thinking straight. If you want to leave tomorrow morning when your head’s clearer, you can release Diana and be on your way. But at least get some sleep first, okay?”

She pauses, looking down at Jason with scared eyes he’s seen far too many times in Gotham. They were alike, in that way. The damn city had chewed them up and spit them out, leaving only scraps behind. She may not have been born and grown up there, but Danielle was a Gothamite all the same. And Gothamites stick together.

As they ascended the stairs back to Danielle’s room, Jason gave her the best smile he could. “Hey, if it helps, I think you did good,” Jason said, “Those bastards had it coming.” Danielle smiles the smallest bit as they finish the walk back to her room.

**WW**

Diana’s on the phone in the kitchen the next morning, waiting for someone on the other end to pick it up. “Hello?” Cyborg asks.

“Ah, Victor,” Diana asks, “Could you put Donna on. It’s… very important.”

“Oh, sure thing,” he replied.

When Donna picks up the phone, Diana immediately goes into telling her about her the events of the past couple days. Everything from Danielle’s story, to the Hiketeia, to the mess with Bruce. She can’t remember exactly when, but somewhere in there Jason and Danielle come in and prepared some toast for breakfast. When Diana’s done explaining the situation there’s a pause as Donna absorbs the situation.

“Diana, it has been less than a week since I last saw you,” she said eventually, “How the hell did you get into this much trouble so fast?” Diana opens her mouth to tell her it wasn’t intentional, but Donna cuts her off before she can get a word in, “No, don’t bother telling me. It’s you. This is to be expected. I’ll be there as soon as I can and don’t bother arguing about the importance of my college studies, okay? You need me.”

Diana lets out a sigh and thanks Donna before putting up the phone. She makes her way to the table, coffee in hand when Danielle stands up and bows. “I ruh-release you!” she cries out suddenly. Diana pauses in her tracks and Jason nearly chokes on his toast as they both look to Danielle. The girly slowly lowers herself back into the chair and asks, “Wh-what are you going t-to do now?”

Diana cocks her head and says, “The same thing I was going to do anyways. If you’ll let me.” Danielle looks down at the table regretfully, but smiles the smallest bit nonetheless.

“Th-thank you,” she said.

Sitting down Diana shook her head. “Don’t thank me until we get Batman off your tail, Danny,” she says, “I’ve sent word the Themyscira and Artemis will be arriving with a vessel to transport you to the Island. It will take her a few days to get here, so we’ll have to hold the fort down. Until she arrives you are not to leave this building, understood?” Danielle nodded in understanding as Diana took another sip of her drink.

“Why not just use the Invisible Jet?” Jason asks.

“Because knowing Batman he probably has about fifty different ways to deal with that,” Diana explained, “No, best to use a form of transportation he hasn’t had time to sabotage. So, are we understood?”

Jason and Danielle both nod.

“Good,” she said, “Now, I’ve already sent word to Venice and Ferdinand is taking a plane back to help us for when Batman finally arrives. Donna will be coming down from San Francisco as well.”

“Awesome!” Jason yells. The two women look at him, eyebrows quirked as he cocks his head to the side, “What? Donna’s cool.”

Diana chuckles and they return to their meals. Yes, she thinks this will work out quite well.

**WW**

As Donna makes a last check of her supplies (keys, wallet, notepad, homework, etc.) in the main common area, Dick walks in through the back doors. She hears Roy call out to him from the arcade machine nearby and they start chatting things up a bit. Oh God, she really hopes Dick doesn’t end up hating her for this. Even if they were on the outs at the moment, Bruce was still his father. Beating the shit out of someone’s dad was not the best way to keep a friendship going smooth. But, Diana was her sister, and like hell was she going to let her deal with this alone.

“Hey, Donna,” Dicks says, “What’s up?”

She glances at him as he leans on the couch behind her, looking over her shoulder at her bag. “Oh, um, Diana has a bit of problem she needs help with,” Donna replies, “I’m getting ready to go over to the embassy to help out.”

“Ah,” Dick says as he jumps over the back of the couch and effortlessly lands on the cushions, “This problem wouldn’t happen to do with a fugitive named Danielle Wellys, would it?” Donna freezes, and closes her eyes. Of course he knows. Shit.

“Yeah,” she said, “How’d you find out?”

“Bruce called, surprisingly enough,” Dick says, “Typical of him to call for a mission and not to see how I’m doing but, y’know, whatever.”

“What’d he say?” Donna ask.

“That Wellys was a serial killer with four deaths on her hands that Diana was protecting out of some foolish sense of honor,” he said, “Also said he needed as much help as he could bringing her in because, you know, Wonder Woman.”

Donna puts the bag down and faces Dick eye-to-eye. “So, what? Is this a courtesy message,” she said, “Hey, I’m gonna help my dad wreck your sister’s house this weekend. No hard feelings, right?”

Dick chuckled, but shook his head. “No, I was just gonna ask if you had Diana’s side of things,” he said, “Because while she can get kinda preachy at times, one thing your sister is not is foolish.”

Donna exhaled and nodded. Thank God Dick had more sense than Bruce. “The short version is that the men she killed were responsible for her baby sister’s rape, abuse, and enslavement,” she told him frankly. The Titans currently gathered in the room suddenly stopped everything they were doing and turned towards them.

He nodded in response, thinking. “You know, as much as I hate to admit it, Bruce has done a lot to shape my worldview,” he said, “And… I’m a staunch believer in the belief that if you do something wrong, no matter the reason, you have to pay the price. Yeah, what happened to her sister sucks, but she still killed four people. There has to be some kind of consequence.”

“Diana believes that, too,” Donna said, “She just thinks the price can’t be paid if you’re locked in a jail cell. For her, justice is a person who did something wrong working to right what sins of theirs they can, and, when it’s not possible, work to make the world a better place. For Bruce that payment is punishing someone. Taking away someone’s freedom, for example. Disciplining them in the hopes they know what punishment they’ll face if they do it again. It’s… a matter of perspective.” She threw her bag over her shoulder and got up. “If it helps, Diana is kinda tied to this ancient magical oath which says she either protects Danielle or dies painfully,” Donna added.

Chuckling, Dick got up and stretched his arms out. “Then I guess I have to help her out,” he said. Donna’s eyes widened as he smirked. Smiling to herself, she shook her head and exited with Dick. As they left, she thought this might just work out after all.

**WW**

Diana will admit she wasn’t expecting Dick to show up with Donna. Apparently, he got called by Bruce because his mentor wanted help getting Danielle, and Dick promptly decided to help them instead. Oddly enough, even after Donna explained to Dick that Danielle had severed the Hiketeia, he still seemed to be willing to help. “If nothing else, as much as I… owe Bruce,” Dick said, “I’d still trust your judgement over his any day.”

It was a sweet sentiment, and Donna seemed happy that Dick was willing to help. But Diana didn’t trust it. This could very well be a trick by Bruce to get an inside man involved. So, after greetings, Diana took Dick to the side away from Donna’s ears and took out the Lasso.

“I don’t mean to sound distrustful and paranoid like Bruce,” she said, “But, just to be safe, I want you to answer a couple questions.”

Dick nodded and held out his arms. “Alright,” he said.

Wrapping the Lasso of Truth around Dick Grayson’s arms, Diana asked, “Are you secretly working with Bruce to turn Danielle Wellys in?”

“No.”

“Are you working on your own initiative to turn Danielle in?”

“No.”

“Will you assist us in getting her to Themyscira?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“… Because I want a chance to stick it to Bruce.”

Huh, it appears Diana underestimated the power of teenaged rebellion. Smiling, Diana wrapped the Lasso around her waist and placed her hand on Dick’s shoulder. “Well, let’s get to strategizing,” she said.

“Wait, you’re not going to get mad at me for having a dishonorable reason to fight or something?” he asked.

“Other than Alfred, there’s no one better to ask for how Bruce’s mind works,” Diana said, “I’ll take any help you can give, no matter the reason. Come on, let’s get you a bed and then get everyone gathered in the conference room. We’ll have a busy day tomorrow.”

**WW**

It was Saturday now and Jason basically had the Embassy to himself. After Donna and Nightwing arrived, them, Diana, Danielle, and Ferdinand holed up in one of the conference rooms to discuss strategy on how to deal with Batman. That left Jason to basically do whatever he wanted.

Usually, he would use this time to sit down and continue reading. But with everything going on, he thought it might be a good idea to see if anywhere was bugged. Extremely unlikely, but this was Batman they were talking about. Currently, he was in Rachel’s office on the first floor, scanning through anything that wouldn’t get him put in front of a firing squad. So far, he’d checked the balcony, Diana’s office, the kitchen, and Garibaldi’s office. He didn’t really know what it would take to break a bug, so he brought a baseball bat he found tucked away in a closet to smash them with. He’s pretty sure it was from a previous occupant of the embassy, considering it was really dusty and had writing that looked like Arabic on the side of it.

Satisfied as he could be with Rachel’s office, he made his way out of the room. They didn’t know how or when Batman would attack, but knowing his usual MO, it would probably be sometime late at night. He’d sneak in through the balcony or a window, stalk his way through the corridors, and try to avoid everyone as best as he could so he could snatch Danielle away. Those kind if stealth and infiltration tactics were his specialty.

As Jason exited the room and glanced at the windows by the door, he froze in his tracks and his mouth fell open.

Or Batman could show up to the front door in a giant, mechanized bat-suit in the middle of the day. That works, too. Jason had to admit, Batman certainly had mastered the element of surprise.

He really should go get Diana and everyone, but… no, this was _his_ home. This was _his_ family. Like hell some giant spandex-clad furry was going to come in and mess it up because he doesn’t care about the details of someone’s actions.

Tightening his grip on the baseball bat, Jason made his way to the door, opening it.


	7. The Hiketeia Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And so, it begins.

When Bruce saw that Dick was heading in to help Diana, he knew he had to act quickly. With Dick’s help, Diana could easily prepare the Embassy for practically any strategy Bruce could come up with. Dammit, he should’ve known Dick would pull something like this. He never should have called him. He had hoped… he had hoped working together on this might help patch things up a bit between them, but clearly Dick had other ideas on the matter.

Bruce needed to get Wellys. Why couldn’t Diana understand? _Four people were dead._ Absolutely scumbags who, Bruce will admit, had it coming, but still. You don’t just kill people in cold blood like that. That... that was just wrong. They should be tried and locked up for what they did. Not murdered. Death was too good for them, anyways.

Regardless, Diana was bent on upholding that stupid, stubborn honor of hers no matter what. So he had to act fast given the recent developments. Thankfully, he was able to get Alfred to- reluctantly- send over his Anti-Superman Armor earlier and he made his way to where it was stored to don it. When he was done, he marched out into the street and made his way for the Embassy.

He had to act fast. Right now was the only time he could maintain the element of surprise and throw them off their game. And what was more surprising than Batman showing up to your front to in a giant power suit?

By the time he reached the Embassy door there was already a decent sized crowd and a couple news vans following him. They shouldn’t be a problem so long as they didn’t try to follow him into the Embassy, so he didn’t pay too much attention to them. He did make note of their presence, though. Just in case someone decided to do something stupid like hit his suit with a car jack. Outside the door, he was doing a couple last second checks to make sure all systems were prepared for the coming fight. Ready to break down the entrance and make his move, Bruce got into a charging stance.

Then the door opened and Jason Todd came out holding a baseball bat.

Bruce would be lying if he said he wasn’t impressed with the kid. It took stones and resourcefulness to steal the tires off of the Batmobile, and Bruce would have been more than happy to have taken the kid out to a meal and get him into a good home if Diana hadn’t beaten him to it. From the moment he saw those two together he knew she’d be good for him, and him for her. Even if he wasn’t impressed with their little tag-team on him. But right now, he didn’t have time to deal with this.

“Go away!” Jason yelled, cocking the bat, “You can’t have her!”

“I don’t want to fight you,” Bruce said through the mech’s sound system, “Just hand Wellys over to me and this can all be over.”

“No,” Jason replied.

“She murdered four people. She has to answer for it,” he replied.

“Four rapists!” he said, “Four rapists _you_ let get away with it!”

“ _I_ let get away with it?” Bruce asked, “Kid, who do you think I am? God? Because I’m not. I learned that a long time ago. I can’t solve every problem no matter how hard I try. I just can’t. What happened to Melody was a tragedy and it deserved justice. But that wasn’t justice, Jason. That was just revenge. If it had been anyone else those four had done wrong, Wellys wouldn’t have given a damn.”

“She took out for scumbags,” Jason replied, “What’s so wrong about that?”

“The fact she killed them,” he said.

“So it’s fine to just let murderers and rapists get off scot free?” he asked, “Tch. You really are a pretentious asshole, aren’t you?”

“I wasn’t going to let them get off,” Bruce said, “I was already closing in on their cartel and dismantling it. How did you think I found out about the murders in the first place?”

“And then what? You’d have sent them to Arkham? Yeah, that’d last.”

“No, I would’ve sent them to Blackgate. Arkham isn’t a prison, it’s a mental health facility,” Bruce said, “Meant to help people with their mental problems.”

“Well, it’s doing a wonderful job,” Jason said.

_Ugh, tell me about it. Seriously, every time I try to suggest improvements to the facility the board just votes them down. Probably because they’re all incompetent idiots who don’t know the first thing about freaking mental health. Dear God, they were willing to let idiot playboy Bruce Wayne onto the board. That’s how incapable of running a mental health facility those people are._

“Jason, just let me through,” he said, “This is between me and Diana.”

“You would’ve let them live,” Jason said, “After everything they did, you would let them live.”

Batman sighed. Goddamit, he didn’t have time for this. “Diana would have as well,” he said.

Jason slammed the bat against the chassis of the mech, splintering it and launching a good chunk of it off towards the wall where it thudded against the stone and fell into the shrubbery. Jason apparently hadn’t noticed, though, as he raised the splintered handle back up near his head. “I’LL HIT YOU AGAIN!” he screamed.

“Diana’s let monsters like them live all the time,” he continued, “Silver Swan: 23 deaths to her name. Doctor Psycho: 84 deaths to his name. Doctor Poison: 227 deaths to her name. And don’t get me started on Barbara Ann Minerva. These are all villains she fights regularly, Jason. Members of her rogues gallery. She has spared them all despite their horrible deeds. To put it into context, the Joker is responsible for 97 deaths. _Ninety-seven, Jason._ Compared to Poison and Minerva’s staggering body count, that’s nothing. So, if you want to complain about the morality of sparing the lives of people who have killed before, then your mother is a far better person to scream at than me. Out. Of. The. Way.”

The boy gritted his teeth and spat a curse out at him instead. Deciding he’d had enough arguing with the thirteen-year-old, Bruce gently grabbed him and dumped him in the shrubbery. “Hey, I’m not a lawn ornament!” he yelled. Ignoring him, Bruce marched up towards the house, breaking through the entrance and entering the opening foyer.

“Diana! I’ve come for Wellys!” he called out. Off to the side he noticed a group rushing out of a conference room. Diana, Donna, Wellys, Ferdingand, and… Dick.

They all stopped at the sight of him, flabbergasted. The first to recover was Dick, who slowly moved his hand up to his face. “Really, Bruce?” he muttered. Bruce would admit he was… disappointed to see Dick here, but they could talk about this later.

“Hand her over Diana,” he said instead, “Don’t make me go through you.”

“Interesting,” Diana said as she walked towards him, “I was about to say the same thing to you.”

Bruce cocked his fists, ready for the fight. “This suit was designed to take on Clark, Diana,” he said.

“I have no doubt,” she replied, “but was it designed to win against him. Bruce? To win against _me?”_

Diana moves into a stance and narrows her eyes. Bruce responds in kind, watching her every move and looking for an opening. There’s no way he could win this fight, he would admit. “She killed four people,” he said, “Don’t tell me you actually approve of that, Diana.”

Diana closed her eyes and inhaled, before releasing the breath and exhaling. “I’m not,” she admitted, “I believe what Danielle did was wrong. Understandable and justifiable, yes. But wrong nonetheless.” He saw the girl freeze up at that, staring at Diana with a mixture of sadness and understanding. Diana hadn’t even changed expression let alone look back at Wellys, but he knew she noticed. “But I gave my word to protect her, and so I shall,” Diana said, “Besides, it would be better for one to live and make amends for their deeds than to rot in a cell.”

“I never said she couldn’t,” Bruce said, “She just needs to spend some time behind bars first.”

Diana’s reply is to rush Bruce, grabbing the suit and throwing it into the staircase. She comes back down on him from above before he can reorientate himself, but he’s able to prevent her landing on him with a back fist that sends her flying into a wall. They both get up and Diana charges him again. This time, though, Bruce is ready and is able to block her blows with his arms and even get a few hits on her. “Donna, Dick, Ferdinand!” Diana cried out as they entered a lock, “Take Danielle and Jason and get them out of here! Take them to the safehouse, donna!” Nodding, the group ran off, Ferdinand scooping up Wellys and Dick moving to pick up Jason on the way out. His last sight of the group is Dick throwing Jason over his shoulder and several news people rushing after them. Gritting his teeth, Bruce grabbed Diana while she was distracted and threw her to the floor.

Getting back up, she began blocking the flurry of blows he delivered at her. Those braces were tough, Bruce would admit. He doubted anything could actually break them and that made them extremely annoying.

She blocked one punch quite well and delivered an upper cut that launched Bruce up into the air, almost causing him to burst through the ceiling. Instead, he stopped just below it and began falling as Diana flew up and grabbed him before heading down and flying him through the hole in the Embassy entrance, her grip still strong.

Looking at the direction they were going, Bruce could see they were heading out to sea. Shit, she was probably hoping to throw him into the water so she could short out his systems and end this as quickly as possible. Knowing he had to act fast, Bruce managed to raise one of his arms up near her face. Lowering the fist so that the wrist was exposed, he shot a highly concentrated formula of pepper spray into her eyes. She screamed, hands going up to her head in agony as he plummeted to the ground.

Looks like he was in luck, they were at the peer. If they had gone just a ten more feet, he’d have been done for. Activating his aerial movement jets, Bruce slowed his dissent and landed on a stone peer with as much grace as a guy in a giant mech suit could possibly pull off. Landing on his feet- and creating a small crater- as soon as he gained his balance, Bruce activated his biosensors to see if there was anyone nearby. Good, no one of note other than a couple figures running off. That meant he didn’t need to worry about civilian casualties.

Diana landed across from him and finished rubbing her eyes. She glared at him, red eyes accentuating her fury and she grabbed the Lasso at her waist and threw it with enough skill and precision to quickly trap Bruce in it. Yanking on the rope, she propelled him in the air and began moving the Lasso in a circle at extremely high speeds. It didn’t take long for the overheating warnings to start blaring in his ears.

Knowing he had to act fast before all his systems suffered a meltdown, Bruce moved his right arm to hit the rope as hard as possible, causing it to go slack so that he’d start falling instead. Grunting at the sudden change in direction, he maneuvered himself so that he landed on Diana. She was caught off guard by the tactic and was sent crashing to the ground by Bruce’s boot.

“Stay down!” he yelled at her.

For a moment, it seemed like she took his advice. Then, the boot began getting lifted off the ground and next thing Bruce knew he was getting launched back by a sudden force. Crashing down on his back, Bruce took note of about five different systems giving him critical damage notices. On the camera, he noticed Diana getting up off the ground, bruised and battered, but clearly in better shape than him.

“No,” she simply said. Bruce moved to get up, but before he could Diana was already on top of him, ripping the armor apart like it was paper. Within seconds he could see her face-to-face as she ripped his seatbelts off and pulled him out of his seat, throwing him to the ground. He got out a batarang, ready to try and throw it, but Diana simply kicked it out of his hands and forced Bruce to the ground with her boot. “You stay down.”

Something must have overheated because the armor exploded behind her.

**WW**

They lost the press about a block back. Jason was still fuming in rage, though. Batman’s words echoing in his ear. How dare he? _How dare he!_ No one got to talk about Diana like that. No one! When this was over, he was going to get a new bat and hit him on the head so hard his brains would end up splattered across the entire damn continent!

“This way,” Donna said as they made their way into an alleyway. Jason wasn’t quite sure where they were now. He didn’t recognize this part of the city, in all honesty. It was… dark here, despite it being the middle of the day. The buildings surrounding the block towered up high enough that most of the light was blocked from entering. He was still thrown over Nightwing’s shoulder so he didn’t have a good look at where they were going, only where they went. That was fine with him, though. Someone had to watch their backs and it might as well be Jason. He thought he saw someone on the rooftops a couple minutes ago, but when he looked up, he realized it was just a couple vents. “Dick, you can put Jason down now,” Donna said.

The body carrying him straightened up at the statement. Jason moved his head as best as he could, trying to get a good look at Donna. “Huh? Oh yeah, right,” Nightwing said. Carefully, the superhero grabbed Jason and placed him on his feet. Jason rolled his shoulders to get the developing cramp out and then turned towards Donna, who was opening a door. “There’s a larger door you can use just down the alleyway, Ferdinand,” Donna told the Kinotaur, pointing in the direction opposite where they entered from, “Just take the stairs up to the second floor and we’ll meet you up there.

The Kinotaur nodded in understanding as he lowered Danielle to the ground just as Nightwing had lowered Jason. “I will see you in a couple minutes then, Ms. Troy,” he said, walking off in the direction Donna had pointed him towards. She made a waving gesture, beckoning them to follow her as they stepped into the building.

“Duh-Diana’ll be a-alright, won’t shuh-she?” Danielle asked.

“She’ll be fine,” Nightwing said, “Bruce knows he could never win a fight with her. This is just his pride getting the better of him. As usual.”

Danielle nodded and the group began ascending the stairs. “I’m suh-sorry for all the truh-trouble I’ve caused y-you all,” Danielle said, “I-I didn’t mean-“

“Danielle, don’t,” Donna said, “You have nothing to apologize for.” They exited the staircase and made their way into hallway where, sure enough, Ferdinand was standing there waiting for them. Smiling, Donna made her way to one of the rooms with a keypad next to it and entered a code.

Then the wall disappeared. It didn’t contract or go away in a giant flash of light. It just sorta faded away. Wide-eyed, the group made their way into the extremely spacious safehouse. It reminded Jason a lot of Themyscira, which made sense. It was probably installed by the Amazons at some point. It was basically two rooms. A really big all-purpose living area with several beds, a kitchenette, dining table, couches, and a TV. Scattered about were various survival supplies, computer tech, first aid stuff, and other kinda things you put in safehouses. There was a door off to the side that looked like it led to a bathroom that Jason made note of, too. “Diana’s nowhere near as paranoid as Bruce,” Donna explained, “But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t see the benefits of having a safehouse or two in case of emergencies. This is the one she had made in case the Embassy was underattack.”

 It took them a bit to get settled down. Donna had gone off to activate the runes, close the door, and other suff to secure the room. Ferdinand had opted to sit cross-legged on the floor to avoid breaking any furniture, Nightwing had chosen a recliner to throw back on, and Danielle and Jason had sat down at the kitchen table. Danielle’s hands were together and shaking quite rapidly, her nerves still high. Jason placed his hands on hers and looked up at her, smiling. “It’s gonna be fine,” he said.

When Donna finished everything she needed to, she sat down on the edge of one of the beds and looked towards the group. “What do we do now?” Nightwing asked.

“We wait,” Donna replied. So, they waited. For fifteen minutes the group sat in the fancy Themysciran safe house and waited.

After fifteen minutes, apparently having had enough of sitting around, Nightwing eventually got up and walked over to Danielle and Jason, sitting down across from them at the table. “You two holding up alright?” he asked.

Slowly, they nodded yes and he chuckled. “It was rhetorical,” he said, “I can tell you’re scared. Batman has that effect on people.”

“He’s a bully is what he is,” Jason said.

Nightwing looked at him funnily and turned to Danielle. “What about you? Do you think he’s a bully?” he asked.

She paused for a moment, looking down at the floor and biting her lip. Then, she raised her gaze slightly and said, “N-no. Huh-he’s just doing his j-job.”

Dick nodded and replied, “A job he takes too seriously. Main reason I left. He’s just so… intense with everything he does. Thinks he needs to solve every problem he sees. Right every wrong and all that crap. It’s a lot to deal with after a while. He was basically the world’s most overbearing parent.”

“Sounds like that must’ve been a shitty childhood,” Jason said.

Nightwing chuckled and shook his head. “No, all things considered, my childhood with him was… unorthodox, but it wasn’t shitty,” he said, “It was just time for me to leave. And, honestly, I don’t think he was ready for that. From what Alfred’s been telling me he’s thrown himself into his work lately. According to him, Bruce doesn’t know what to do without me.”

Jason straightened. “Wait, are you telling me the reason he’s been acting like an asshole is because he has _Empty Nest Syndrome!?!”_ he asked. Ferdinand and Donna looked up in surprise.

Nightwing scratched his chin, contemplating. “Huh. Maybe,” he said.

He could hear Donna facepalming in the background. “You’ve _got_ to be kidding me,” she said.

Suddenly, Danielle snorted. Startled, Jason turned to see Danielle’s face puckered up before she broke and started laughing like a madwoman. “Hahahaha! I-I’m being chased by Batman, b-b-b-because he misses his _son,”_ she said, “Oh my G-God, that’s the best joke ever!”

Nightwing quirked a smile before joining her in the laughing. Soon enough, everyone in the room was following suit, Jason included. It was… it was good, to not be scared for a moment.   

Then the lights went out.

“What the hell!?!” Nightwing cried.

In response, a voice pierced the newfound darkness and Jason’s blood ran cold at its sound. It was so… feral. No, it was monstrous. Every hair on Jason’s body stood on end and it felt like there was a blizzard moving up and down his spine.  “Run run, little mice,” the voice said, “The hunt has just begun.”

It was Donna, in the end, who helped give the voice a name. “Cheetah,” she whispered.

There was a boom, and the entrance fell into dust and debris as a catlike figure crawled forward. She was shaped like a human with arms, legs, head, all the typical human features. But she had large ears that came to a point, her fingers and toes had razor shar claws on them, her eyes were slit instead of round, her entire body was covered in fur, and she walked on all fours. She was eyeing them, giving each a solid evaluation of their threat level and how much trouble they would be. Her eyes lingered on Jason a split second longer than the others, but they didn’t appear to find him threatening. Just curious. Danielle stood up, knocking her chair back, and the rest of them followed suit.

“Ah, there you are, Ms. Wellys,” the Cheetah said, “I’ve been waiting to finally meet without the inconvenience caused by the presence of the Prrrrrrincess.”

“W-what do you want?” Danielle asked.

Cheetah smiled, and contracted, ready to pounce. “I want to kill you,” she said, “Preferably as painfully as possible.”

The Cheetah pounced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I noticed a lot of people were giving Bruce crap in the comments. For the sake of full disclosure, that was not the impression I was trying to make.


	8. The Hiketeia Part 4: The Call of Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: GORE

Cheetah did not care that she’s not what would be considered a good person. It did not matter that she was petty or cruel or selfish. She didn’t care about the countless lives she’s ended and ruined. She just wanted one thing: for Diana to roll over and die. Preferably in as painful a manner as possible. Or, if that was not an option available, for her to bleed and hurt as much as possible. But right here, right now, there was an opportunity to end the princess once and for all and she was going to take it.

She came in quick, not wanting to give them time to react. Kill the girl, get out, there was no reason to drag this out into a prolonged battle. Of course, the Wonder Brat apparently didn’t see it that way as Cheetah quickly found herself being yanked back and thrown into a wall by a silver lasso.

“Everyone, get out of here!” the girl screamed. Cheetah saw the Kinotaur rush over to Wellys and Todd, picking them up and running towards the window. He jumped out backwards, shielding the two of them from the shards as he fell to the ground bellow. “Dick, you too!” Donna yelled as Cheetah made for one of her legs.

A projectile ended up lodged in her shoulder and she let out a hiss because it distracted her long enough for Wonder Girl to get out of reach. “I’m not leaving you to fight her alone, Donna!” the boy in the… what the hell even was that shit? A disco suit?

“You can’t take her, Dick,” she said, “ _I_ can’t take her! We need to get Bruce and Diana. I hope they’re done by now…”

Cheetah growled at the two of them, but decided they weren’t worth it. She had a different prize. Turning around she beelined for the broken window and jumped out, nimbly landing on the side of the building across from them. The Kinotaur and his wards were already out of sight. That was fine, though. She didn’t need to see them to know where they went. She could smell the Kinotaur’s sweat all the way from up here.

She bolted to the left and jumped onto a building across the street and launched herself up to the roof of it. Good, they hadn’t even cleared the block yet. Within less than a second Cheetah managed to make her way across the buildings and jump down towards them. Two well-aimed scratches to Ferdinand’s back as she fell were enough to get him to drop his charges. “Run! Find Diana!” he yelled, “I’ll hold the beast off.”

He attempted to backfist her, but it was a simple matter to jump up and dodge it. She attempted to move around him in order to get to the two charges of the Princess’s running away, but he managed to block her attempts by grabbing her tail and yanking on it.

She struck at his hand in retaliation, causing a deep gash to appear on it. He cried out in pain, but recovered enough to block the swipe aimed at his neck with his arm. Huffing, he quickly grabbed Cheetah up off the ground and threw her through a nearby wall.

As she tumbled through the air, she could already tell the place was a pottery shop from all the sounds of pottery breaking. Man, the owner of this shop would not be happy. She’d be sure to break as much of the delicate merchandise as possible. The prospect of ruining someone’s livelihood was just too appealing to pass up.

 She got back on her hands and feet, shaking off what dirt she could, as Wonder Girl and Discoboy landed next to the Kinotaur. “Ferdinand, are you okay!?!” Donna asked.

“I’m fine. Danielle and Jason have gone to get Diana,” he said, “We just need to wait for the timely arrival of her and the Batman.”

The one in the disco outfit… Dick, she believed Wonder Girl called him, took out two escrima sticks and held them out. “So,” he asked, “How do we d-“ She was already in front of him before he could finish his sentence.

“Dick!” Wonder Girl cried. Cheetah landed on the boy, forcing him to the ground with a great amount of force. Surprisingly, this didn’t appear to have broken anything. She’d have to remedy that oversight.

Wonder Girl punched her straight in the jaw, sending Cheetah flying. She skidded across the street and straightened herself. _Where the hell are the pedestrians anyways? This is New York! Why is this street empty?_

This fact infuriated her. She could use some hostages right around now.

She didn’t have time to worry about that, though, as Wonder Girl was throwing every bit of her Amazonian training at Cheetah. Kicks and punches and swipes abounded as she pounded her limbs into Cheetah’s flesh. Sick of this, Cheetah managed to swipe the girl’s feet out from under her and kick her aside. She then sped her way back to the other two. Deciding to end this quickly, she reached down and grabbed Dick by both his legs and slammed him into a charging Ferdinand. The Kinotaur’s balance came undone and he plummeted to the ground. As for Dick, well, she’s pretty sure that arm of his, plus a couple ribs, won’t be of use to him for a while.

Deciding that she needed a reason to get them to stop coming at her, Cheetah promptly raised the boy up into the air and slammed him onto the concrete. Then she did it again. And again. And again. When his blood started staining the pavement like paint off of a paintbrush she hurled him at a disorientated Donna and ran off. There, that should distract them long enough.

It took her a bit longer to reach Wellys and Todd, but it wasn’t difficult. They had basically just continued to run down the street in the same direction that they started in. God, be more original with your escape routes. Take a turn or someth- Ah, they just turned into an alleyway. Good. She always liked killing people in alleys.

She charged into the alleyway, growling. The boy quickly moved the girl behind him and picked up a trash can lid, ready to fight. She just tore the lid from his grasp and pinned him to the ground. Growling, took out her claws, ready to slash him apart.

Then she was being stabbed in the shoulder by a piece of rebar. Looking up, she saw that the hand that stabbed her was Wellys’s, who now had a pocket knife out. Deciding to move on from the boy to get at her true target, she jumped onto Wellys. The girl was quick though, Cheetah would giver her that. Wellys threw open Cheetah’s grip as they fell and not a second after the two of them hit the ground, Wellys was she slashing the knife across Cheetah’s stomach.

It didn’t do much, of course. Drew some blood, but the blade just broke. Cheetah applauded her quick thinking, though. The boy scrambled to his feet and charged her, but Cheetah just kicked him away as she turned her attention fully towards the girl. “Now,” she said, “Shall we finish this?”

**WW**

Diana was sitting on Bruce, shaking her head. “Bruce, we could have talked about this,” she said simply.

“Tried that,” he said, “It didn’t work.”

She hmphed as she adjusted herself to be more comfortable. “I know what she did was wrong, Bruce, and I intend to see her make up for it,” Diana said, “And as I said, we had Hiketeia.”

“If you kill someone, you serve time for it,” Bruce said, “That’s the law, princess. You’ve been aiding and abetting a known criminal and assisting her escape from justice. All because of what? Some silly ritual thousands of years outdated?”

“It’s divinely binding,” she explained, “If I break it, the Furies will come and tear me apart.”

There’s a pause as Bruce considers the words. _“Then why they hell didn’t you just say so!?!”_ Bruce asked, “If it was something like that, I’d have backed off in an instant.”

“I did tell you,” Diana said.

“No, you said you had Hiketeia,” he retorted, “Something which I only found two vague references for in some uncompleted plays. You said nothing about getting brutally murdered.”

Thinking back to their conversation on the balcony, Diana realized he was right. She _hadn’t_ mentioned that little detail, had she? Whoops.

“Well, if it helps your ego she released me from it earlier this morning,” Diana said.

“Ah, so _now_ you’re aiding and abetting a known criminal without the excuse of an unbreakable oath,” Bruce said.

Diana looked down at him and smirked. “Did you just reference Harry Potter?” she asked him, “I’m shocked, Bruce. How completely unexpected.”

“You’re right,” he replied, and she swore he was smirking, “It’s appalling. Percy Jackson would be more fitting.” They laughed at that. It was nice and slow, and she felt good to be joking with him instead of beating him to a pulp.

“For what it’s worth, I understand where you’re coming from,” she conceded, “I just don’t agree with it.”

Bruce shrugged as best he could. “Well, what’s a little argument between friends?” he asked.

She groaned. “Ugh, why can’t we ever argue about normal things like the best TV Shows or Books or whatever?” she asked, “It’s always gotta be some dramatic Shakespearean drama with people’s lives on the line and more property damage than should be allowed.”

“For what it’s worth, you can just do what I always do,” he said.

She chuckled, almost certain what his answer was. “And what’s that?” she asked anyways.

“Blame it on Hal,” he said. She knew it, but she laughed anyways. Some things about Bruce never changed.

Standing up, she held out a hand to help Bruce up. Grunting, he took it and she lifted him up with ease. “What’s been going on, Bruce? Ever since Dick left, you’ve been more confrontational than usual,” she asked.

“… I guess… Well, we didn’t really have a good parting of ways,” he said, “He… he had been off on a mission with the Teen Titans and I had been working a case with Clayface. I knew it was something that I’d need help with and I kept calling him to come help, but he never replied. Eventually, I tracked Clayface down and Dick finally arrived in the nick of time. But it was late and… and a child had nearly gotten killed. I was angry and I started yelling at him, telling him that if he wasn’t going to take his responsibilities seriously then he shouldn’t be Robin anymore. He… responded by tearing off the R on his outfit and marching back to the Titans, saying I never respected him.”

Sighing, Diana patted Bruce on the shoulder. “There’s probably more to it than just that,” she said.

“Things had been… tense, for a while,” he said, “That was just the breaking point.”

“I see,” she said, “Did you ever try to talk things over with him?”

“Tried,” he said, “Called a few times, even showed up at the tower. He just said I was butting into his life and not treating him like an adult.”

Diana nodded sagely. At least, she hoped it was sagely. Otherwise it would probably have just looked pretentious.

Bruce continued, “It’s frustrating. We used to get along so well, and now… It feels like I can’t be in the same room as him without him yelling at me. Or me yelling at him. I’m sure if you were to ask him he’d tell you something that make me the bad guy in all this and… he’d probably be right.”

“When this is over,” Diana said, “I am sitting both of you down and getting you two to actually talk to each other. This is getting ridiculous.”

“Fine,” he said, smirking, “But only if I get to do the same when Jason starts deciding you’re the devil.”

“That’s ridiculous. I look nothing like the devil,” she retorted, “The devil looks like David Bowie.”

Bruce nodded. “…Wait, does that mean you’ve met the devil?” he asked.

“Yes. He owns a club in Las Vegas,” she said.

“Figures,” he said, “Well, guess this means I lose. I’ll back off now.”

Diana smiled, patting Bruce on the back. “Excellent,” she said, “Come, I’ll take you to where I sent them to hide.”

**WW**

“Wh-what do you w-want with me?” Wellys asks her.

Cheetah purred for a moment, pleased with the question. “You and the prrrrrincesss have Hiketeia,” she said, “If you die, she dies.”

Wellys paused for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Shit. “You’re t-too late,” Wellys said, “I ruh-released her! K-killing me w-won’t ac-accomplish anything.”

Cheetah smiled as wide as she could, causing the girl’s laughter to freeze. Did she honestly believe that mattered? “It will hurt her,” Cheetah said, “That is sufficient enough.” She tore out the girl’s throat with one quick blow. Wellys gargled and spat as Cheetah gave her room. Wellys tried desperately to stop the bleeding and the dying. In the end, though, it was pointless. Within half a minute she’d fallen to the ground, dead.

“NOOOOOO!!!!!” a voice behind her screamed. Oh right, Cheetah had forgotten about the boy. He rushed at her, ready to try and main, perhaps even kill, her. She just grabbed his neck and shoved him against the wall.

“Now now, little prrrrince,” she said, “We don’t want to make any haaasssty decisions, now do we?”

“Fuck you!” he screamed, desperately trying to kick her, “Danielle didn’t deserve any of that! She- she was a good person. HOW DARE YOU!?!” He was struggling harder now, but no less futilely. She could see why Diana chose the boy. He had her fighting spirit. It was just… untampered. Yes, she would have fun extinguishing it.

“You’ve only been in her home… what, a week? A month? A very short amount of time, nonetheless,” Cheetah said, “And yet you are every bit the child of Diana. I like that.”

“If you’re going to kill me, get it over with!” he yelled.

Cheetah let out a quick laugh at that. “Kill you? Hardly,” she said, “It’s far too early in the game to kill you now. I think I’ll save you for later.”

He stopped at that, his legs falling down as he looked at her. “So, what does that mean?” he asked.

Cheetah smirked, “It means you lose an eye.” She brought her claws down on his face, tearing through the offending organ. The boy screamed, clutching the wound with his hands. There were scratch marks running down the boy’s face. They would most likely scar and remain for years to come. “A little something to remember me by,” she simply said. She doubted he registered her words, though.

Her ears perked up though, as she heard the sound of a man calling out for that Dick boy in the distance. Ah, the princess must have finished her little argument. That would mean-

“Barbara Ann!” a voice cried out as she was slammed into.

She had a couple broken ribs, she could tell that much. “You have a choice, prrrrincess!” she cried, “Stop me or save them!” Diana stopped and turned towards Wellys and Todd, giving Cheetah ample time to speed away, out of the princess’s sight. She hadn’t accomplished all of her goals, Diana still lived, after all, but Cheetah had left a scar.

Specifically, on the boy. And she didn’t mean the one on his eye. No, he would remember this day for years to come. It’d be the thing that would stay with him forever. The day he was powerless to do anything as those he tried to protect were torn apart around him. It was something she’d remember fondly, she was sure. The day she broke poor little Wonder Boy.

It’s later, when she stops to rest and the city is far behind her that she climbs to the highest point she can to overlook the sunset. She holds up her hand and watches as the reds and oranges of her day blend with the reds and oranges of the sky. It’s a ritual she enjoys performing, just for herself. To see how much her fur matches the sunset after a fulfilling day’s work. Today, she thought the reds in particular blended quite well. Ah yes, today was a really good day.

She cheers to the sun as it falls, reveling in the carnage left in her wake. Meanwhile, a mother and a father weep far away, for their children have been struck down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure this is a... painful chapter to read. Don't worry, it gets happier after this. But it's the Hiketeia. There's no way this was going to end happily. Also, don't worry, Dick's not dead.


	9. The Hiketeia: Aftermath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which threads are closed, and time moves on.

Diana is no stranger to doubt or grief. Especially not at the hands of the Cheetah. She remembers Mala, an old flame, but nevertheless a dear companion to Diana even now. Torn apart by Cheetah’s merciless claws. She remembers Trevor Barnes, a co-worker at the UN who she dated a few years back, bleeding on the ground and gasping for air- his lungs strewn across the ground like confetti. She remembers officer Michael Schorr of the Gateway City Police Department, a staunch ally in her attempts to uproot Darkseid’s forces from the city, slain just after their final victory, a single reminder that no one was safe. Lila Brown, an old co-worker of Steve’s, Colonel Darcy of the intelligence department, names upon names upon names. Each death more cruel than the last. Each one striking close to Diana’s core. Cheetah knew she could never kill Diana, so she was content to kill those Diana was close to. And now Danielle could be added to that list as well.

It’s raining at the funeral, like it usually does. It’s not a large one, just a small congregation of the family and friends of Danielle and Melody. Their grandmother was sitting down, bowing her head in sorrow, their parents were beside her, using their umbrella to shield the old woman from the rain. A man named James who Melody dated before he came out of the closet was there as well as Danielle’s best friend, Jasmine. The priest stood before the two coffins, giving the final prayer before they were lowered into the Earth and the digging began. The group began to return to their cars one by one, leaving the gravediggers to finish their jobs. Diana wrapped an arm around Jason and turned him around, heading towards the cars with the group.

She came upon their parents, helping the grandmother into the car for the 2-hour drive back to their home. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I couldn’t save them.”

The father looks up at her sadly, the pain in his eyes the clearest thing she’s seen all day. “Neither could we,” he simply tells her. He closes the door and walks to the passenger seat as the mother takes the driver’s seat. Diana looks down at the Grandmother, who looks up at her through the glass and smiles a near toothless smile.

Diana and Jason step away as the car backs up and drives off into the distance, leaving tire marks in the gravel, which will soon be replaced with more as cars come and go from the cemetary. As they return to their own vehicle, her eyes drift towards a figure in a tux standing a good distance away from the graves. She can tell he’s gazing upon the graves intently, as if they would disappear the moment he so much as glanced away.

“What’s he doing here?” Jason asks her from the other side of the car. He’s wearing bandages over his eye, with explicit orders not to remove it for anything other than cleaning the wound. The organ itself had to be removed- too heavily damaged to be recoverable and essentially reduced to ribbons, as the doctors had informed her. She talked to Jason and Cyborg about getting Jason a cybernetic one to replace it, but Jason had shot the idea down. He wanted to remember this moment- always.

“Because he cares, Jason,” she replied, “He always cared.”

Jason laughed bitterly at the idea, shaking his head. “He has a hell of a way of showing it,” he said, “If he’d just left Danielle alone-“

“He’d have compromised everything he stands for,” Diana finished, “Jason, Bruce believes in a great many number of things. Death is most certainly not one of them. In any of its forms. He never wanted Danielle or Melody dead.”

Jason says nothing at first, just continues to glare up at Bruce on the hill, perhaps hoping his gaze would be enough to kill the man. It isn’t. Instead, Bruce walks towards the graves slowly, a bouquet in his hand coming into view. As he reached the graves where the workers were digging, he laid the flowers down near the sight mournfully, before standing up and turning around, looking at them for a brief moment before walking away. “Tch, asshole,” Jason said.

“His son is laying on a bed over a two thousand feet above our heads dying,” Diana said, “And yet he chose to come to leave flowers for two girls he barely even knew.”

“Why the hell are you defending him, Diana?” Jason snaps, “If he hadn’t come-“

“Cheetah would have found a way,” Diana interrupted, “She always finds a way, Jason. If she intends to kill someone, she will kill them. It is a lesson I have learned time and time again. To attract her gaze, is to enter the line for the gallows. As for Bruce, we all make mistakes, Jason. Some end worse than others. Once, I tried to broker peace between two warring factions in a country, but all I did was unite them against an oppressed minority. By the time I learned it was too late, two-thousand people had died.”

“That’s not the same-“ Jason tried.

“It is exactly the same. Different circumstances, different people, different country, same conclusion. People got hurt and killed. I should have had the leaders replaced with more amicable ones, I should have looked more closely at their personal policies, I should have torn their heads from their necks and fed them to the crocodiles all the way in the Nile,” Diana said, “We all make mistakes, we all sin when we mean to save. And in this line of work, that can get people killed. So, we must move on, and hope that our next mistake is not as catastrophic. He’ll remember this, Jason. If there’s one thing Bruce is good at, it’s remembering the things that went wrong.”

“I still don’t like him,” Jason said, “He can burn in hell for all I care.”

Diana nodded. “Fair enough,” she said, “Come, we must return to the airport, you have school tomorrow.”

**WW**

Artemis, upon her arrival and learning her would-be charge wad dead, had opted to stay instead of returning to Paradise Island. The princess was clearly going through a time of mourning and having a close confidant for her to lean on would be good. Of course, Diana had taken Artemis’s generous offer of actual emotional support (something she did not give much), and thrown it away in favor of burying herself in her work and ignoring the grief. _Diana has got to stop taking mourning lessons from Batman._ Artemis thought ruefully. Goddesses, being her friend was exhausting.

Currently, Artemis was waiting outside Diana’s door, tapping her foot up and down rapidly, waiting for the princess to come out. She couldn’t avoid Artemis if Artemis was right in front of her. She must have been standing there for about ten or fifteen minutes when she suddenly felt her leg get hit by something. Not flinching in response, Artemis directed her gaze to the side she was hit on, where the princess’s brood was standing, holding a training staff.

“What do you want, boy?” Artemis asked, frustrated.

“Teach me,” he replied.

Artemis’s foot stopped, and she looked down at him speculatively. “Teach you what?” she asked.

“How to fight,” Jason said, “Diana says you’re just as good as her in a fight and Diana’s currently working, so I want you to teach me.”

“And just why, pray tell, would I teach you?” Artemis asked.

“Because I’m Diana’s son,” he replied, “and Cheetah’s going to come back for me some day and if she kills me because I can’t fight her off, then that’ll just break Diana’s heart more.”

Damn this small child and his serpentine words. She ripped the staff from his hand and looked it over, unimpressed. Honestly, was this the best training implement that Diana had in this building? “Take me to your training field, boy. I shall show you how an Amazon fights,” she told him.

The training arena Diana’s home possessed lay beyond a door in the back of the armory. It was a simple sand field with varying racks dotting the sides that Artemis was pretty sure existed in a dimension separate from the rest of the Embassy because they should have run into that deli shop at the Embassy’s back by now. She handed Jason back the staff and grabbed one for herself. One far more  She had half a mind to throw him off the deep end and beat him into the ground. As was the case for most first lessons among the Bana. But she chose to forego that. Cheetah had already beaten Jason into the ground quite effectively. Now was the time to build him up.

She began with basic stretches and stances, moving him through the motions with careful patience and explanation. He was shaky, unrefined and untempered. As the lesson continued on, Artemis noted the increasing agitation and frustration boiling up inside of Jason. Ah, yes, the impatient youth, so ready to prove herself in combat that she feels the need to strike with the greatest ferocity she can manage, and not with the skill she needs to survive.

“You are growing frustrated and impatient,” Artemis observed, “Why?”

Jason said nothing, merely followed her in repeating the stance movements. “We’ve been at this for at least an hour,” he said, “And all you’ve shown me is how to hold this stupid thing.”

“Yes, I have,” Artemis admitted, “And I shall show you how to properly hold it for at least two more.”

“This isn’t going to help me,” he muttered.

Yes, this would be a problem. She would have to nip it in the butt before it festered and grew into resentment. “Tell me, when you learned how to read did you start with clauses and prepositions or the letter A?” Artemis asked him.

“The letter A, duh,” Jason answered, “It’d be kinda stupid not to.”

Artemis nodded, moving him through a guard stance. “This is the same,” Artemis told him, “Striking the fatal blow is the clause to our sentence, the simile to our rhetoric, the period to our statement. If we were to start with it, then you would learn nothing. This, these stances and our breaths, are the letter A. Without it, nothing else would make sense.”

Jason huffed in response. “Why not just throw me off the deep end?” he asked, “Force me to learn how to swim, so-to-speak?”

Artemis let out a hearty laugh. “Because then you would drown, dear boy,” she replied, “And corpses make terrible students.” She moved them back to an earlier stance, and decided to drive the lesson home. “You believe your hardships have granted you a perfect understanding of the world,” she continued, “That starving on the streets and stealing tires from cars has taught you everything you need to know. It has not. You no longer live on the streets of Gotham, Jason Todd, where spunk and a tire iron can save you from most dangers. You live in a world of Gods and Monsters, where spunk will only get you killed.” She struck him lightly behind the legs, flipping him over and landing him on his back. “Your footwork is atrocious, young man. If your stance was more stable, I would not have been able to do that. Tell me, how do you intend to face the Cheetah, of all beings on this planet, if you can’t even stand up straight?”

“Shut up,” he said as he lifted himself up, “I need to finish this.” She shoved her staff down on his chest and forced him back down.

“You need to get that stick out of your ass, boy,” Artemis scolded, “You have a fighting spirit to make any Amazonian mother proud. But fighting spirit is no substitution for skill, and a very bad companion to stupidity.”

“What’re you trying to say?” Jason asked her, growling.

“I am saying that facing down a man in a billion-dollar mech suit designed to fight Superman and Wonder Woman with nothing but a baseball bat when Diana was one door away was idiotic,” Artemis said, “You constantly seek someone to fight: Batman, Cheetah, _me,_ Goddesses know what before us, but doing so will only result in your humiliation. To fight is to win, not look adorable while you’re getting your ass kicked.”

_“I know that!”_ Jason yelled, “So why don’t you just teach me already!?!”

Artemis smirked. “I am teaching you, Jason,” she said, “It is up to you whether or not you learn. So, shall we have fifty spars where I put you on your ass because you think the woman with decades of experience over you is incompetent, or are you going to stop letting your frustration grow and fester and actually listen to what I am telling you?”

There’s a moment of silence, and Jason gets back up and gets into the stance. “Your feet are too wide apart, close them,” she orders, “Straighten your hands, you’re more likely to hit the man beside your target holding it like that.”

So they continued on, hour into hour, day into day, her teaching Jason how to use his staff. And, as time went on, he learned.

**WW**

It had been a month since Danielle’s death and no word had come in on Cheetah’s location. Diana didn’t expect it to, though. After each blow, she always slinked back into whatever pit she crawled out of until she was ready to strike again. That didn’t stop Diana had been deathly afraid of sending Jason to school, though. Somewhere he’d be out in the open and vulnerable to Cheetah’s attacks. At the same time, she didn’t want her own paranoia to ruin Jason’s life. A solution had been found when the gym teacher had retired and Artemis had opted to take his position in order to set Diana’s mind at ease. With her there, Jason and the students would be protected should any villains attack his school.

Diana smiled to herself at the thought of some overambitious B-list villain hoping to kidnap Jason and getting Artemis instead, and returned to her work. There were some permit renewals that needed to be carried out for the Mindi Meyer Organization that she had to fill out forms for. Thank God Rachel was there to help her look up figures and all the minute project details of the charity, Diana would have been lost otherwise.

Her mind drifts away, back to Bruce and his family. Ever since the Danielle incident, Bruce had become more closed off, preferring to remain in Gotham even when summoned by the League. But according to Donna, he and Dick talked briefly over the phone every Thursday so there was improvement on that front. He was a slow man, slow to change and slow to improve. This was an asset in many cases, when patience and strategy were needed to overcome the League’s enemies. Though in matters of his emotional bullshit, it was annoying. But, you know, it was Bruce. You did what you could.

So, she worked on and hoped for the best. She supposed, for now at least, that was all she could do.

**WW**

Jason left the Embassy when no one was looking and walked out into the park across the street. He wasn’t running away from the place or anything, but he needed time to himself. To think, to sort out his feelings, and not to be crushed by Diana’s overprotectiveness and Artemis’s pushiness.

It was fairly late in the day, and the park had started emptying out, leaving Jason alone for the most part. So, he walked the paths and stewed in his thoughts. His mom was dead, his dad was dead, and Danielle was dead. Why did his life have to be such shit? That’s three people he cared about dead in a bit over a decade of being alive. He wasn’t sure what the normal mortality rate for people close to someone was, but he was pretty sure that his life had exceeded the number.

He was dragged out of his thoughts by the cooing of pigeons, and a ragged, skinny woman with bleach white hair spreading out crumbs to them. The woman looked up and towards, him, eying Jason curiously. She made a slight motion towards the open spot on the bench next to her, inviting Jason to sit down. He hesitated for a moment. Who was this lady? Why was she so thin? Was she one of Diana’s enemies? What if this was a trap?

But, as he looked at her, he didn’t get any feeling of danger from her. No impression of a threat or even the slightest hint of malcontent. So, perhaps against his better judgement, Jason walked up and took a seat.

“You look tired,” the woman said to him. Her voice was raspy and worn, slowly filed down by a weary life.

Jason didn’t reply to her statement, merely looked down as his feet and observed the pigeon that had waddled up to his shoe and started pecking at it. “Someone died, didn’t they?” the woman asked when Jason didn’t reply.

He snorted. “Been watching the news, have you?” he asked.

“No.”

She doesn’t elaborate, merely continues to spread the crumbs for the pigeons. Jason lets out a breath and says, “Yeah, someone died. Several someones, actually. My-my deadbeat dad died, then my mom, and now my friend. That-“

“That’s a lot,” the woman conceded, “Too many funerals for someone your age to attend.”

“I’ve only been to one funeral,” he corrected.

“Even worse,” the woman replies before pausing. After a moment, she added, “I know how that feels- to lose a lot. I’ve lost a lot, too.”

“Who?”

“My mother and my father,” she said, “My husband and… and my son. And I think it was my fault I lost that last one. I- that was everyone.”

“Tough,” Jason said in sympathy.

“You still have people though, don’t you?” she asked.

“I- yeah, yeah I do,” he replied.

“Good. Treasure that, hold on to it, and even if God himself tries to pry it from your fingers hold on as tight as you can,” she said, “Maybe if you manage to hold on tighter than I did, then you won’t lose what I’ve lost.”

“I-I’ll try,” he said.

“You’re her son, aren’t you?” the woman asked, pointing towards the Embassy.

Jason nodded. “Yeah, I am.”

The woman smiled slightly and chuckled. “Ah, I see,” she said, “Maybe you’ll love your mother more than I loved mine. That would be a good thing to see. Go on back, now. They may hold you, they may squeeze and suffocate, but if she’s half the woman I think she is, Diana of Themyscira will listen to you when you say stop.”

He nodded, before jumping off the bench and taking the path back to the Embassy. Those weren’t the words he wanted, nor probably the ones he needed, but they were what he got, and he supposed that would be fine for now. Stopping in his tracks, he turned around and asked, “Hey, you out here often?”

She nodded to him as she crumpled up the bag and stood up, scattering the pigeons.

“Then I’ll come visit you some time,” Jason said, “You look pretty lonely.”

“Thank you,” she rasped out, her voice beginning to give out.

“So, uh, hey. If I’m gonna be out here a bit more, mind if I ask you for your name?” he asked, “I’m Jason, by the way. Jason Todd.”

She hesitates, if only for a moment as she carefully considers his question. As if there is a particular answer she needs to give him or else everything falls apart. Eventually, the hesitance disappears and she answers, “My name is Lyta.”

And so he left, no spring in his step, not yet anyways. But nevertheless moving forward.


End file.
